The Life that Never Lived ? (Half-Blood Prince)
by bookhater
Summary: Harry knew he should be feeling more alone than ever, his next year only seems to hold misery ahead for all readers, while his memories are still trying to warn him how much worse it could get...- Complete, email me for details.
1. THE OTHER MINISTER

**Important Author's Note!: Yes this series is complete in its entirety, but I have to email you if you want copies with book content, apologies. Please PM for details.**

Beautiful cover images for this series goes out to Bird-Who-Reads! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Remus wasn't really asleep. Sirius had shared a dorm with him for seven years and a flat for the past two years already, he knew how he slept as well as any of his mates, far better than anyone

from his own house, so those little snorts he was trying to pass off as his real sleep wasn't fooling anyone, especially not Sirius. He let him keep going though, in hopes that he actually would fall asleep soon. Sirius, for once, was not in a very talkative mood tonight. None of them really were, which is likely why the other three had gone to bed so early after an equally timely supper. The curiosity lingered of course, to ask why Moony would feign sleep instead of staying up for whatever time they pleased, chatting away about nothing. Both of them were night-owls by nature, easily staying awake the latest without even realizing it. James had more been the early riser, bounding out of bed with the most energy easily and whipping them all up for the morning.

Sirius had to force his mind to cut off there, to remind himself again why he couldn't just go out right now and fix this problem that had lead to more awkward silence between them than even

Sirius had ever caused. So instead he sat there, stirring his cold tea and gazing out the back door at nothing and forcing himself to remain on an issue he could pick apart. Normally Remus only feigned sleep the night before a full moon, he was usually least talkative those days and still no matter what tried to put a bit of distance between himself and everyone else. This clearly wasn't it this time though. Perhaps he was just dreading what they were going to hear next like they all were, no one wanted to keep going and hear more of Harry's life after what he'd last been through. It grew harder by the day to pretend like this future was fixable, now even he wasn't around to help Harry anymore. Remus was the last of James' friends who stood any chance in staying in Harry's life, and his track record wasn't stellar for doing that so far. Remus likely no more believed

than Sirius it would change now.

By far the most agitating part of it was that Moony hadn't just come and talked to him about it. Sure he feigned normalcy earlier when they'd been reading those Beedle tales with Harry, but Sirius had still been waiting at any moment for Remus to turn around and tell him what was really on his mind. He hadn't, and he still wasn't now at the most opportune time.

He was trying to be mature about this, not let the idea his future would cease after so many terrible and long years crush him into a weeping mess. So he wouldn't go in and bother Moony if he didn't want to be, but also the idea of being shut up in a room alone was just too repellent right now, even in a house he actually liked. What he wouldn't give just to leave, for ten minutes. To be back in the Forbidden Forest where their biggest worry was which direction Moony was headed in, the moonlight bathing everything with a mysterious glow they understood better than anyone, just running to run and caring for nothing more than each other...

James came down the stairs next morning and frowned with concern. Remus was face down into the couch cushions like always, but Sirius seemed to have passed out at the table right where he'd left him last night. He'd fully expected Padfoot and Moony to be up for hours chatting away like he and Lily had, but clearly neither had moved an inch.

With a heavy sigh he went to work getting his infants morning bottle ready, and settled in the seat next to his best man, sitting contently as his charge at his breakfast. James couldn't sit in silence for long though, so as soon as the baby was done he set him in his highchair and reached over to prod Sirius awake.

He merely groaned and buried his face into the crook of his arms, the cup of tea coming dangerously close to being knocked over in the process. James scooted this farther away from him before doing it again. "You're an idiot."

"Always a lovely thing to hear first moment of the day," he muffled around a yawn.

"Then don't be an idiot and fall asleep in a position that we're going to have to hear about all day," he returned much more pleasantly. It wasn't that unheard of, Sirius had been known to fall asleep over his homework a few times in their sixth year, but they'd learned the reason for that later, at the time they just hadn't realized how right they'd been in mocking him for trying to impress someone.

"Why's he slumped over the table this time?" Lily yawned her greeting as she passed by.

"I'm working up to that," James promised.

She stopped and greeted her infant before giving her husband a quick kiss and sitting down on his other side. Sirius still had his face buried away, but the scent of the bacon and eggs she'd started had his nose finally twitching towards the surface.

It wasn't until Harry came down the stairs that Sirius forced himself to wake fully, rousing by shaking himself and blurry eyes focusing on nothing.

"I volunteer Sirius to be the one to wake up Moony," James said around a full mouth, runny egg still going down his chin.

"I say we leave him there, if he wants to sleep through breakfast that's his problem," Sirius huffed while ripping bacon apart and managing to fit more in his mouth that way.

Lily turned with the same napkin she'd just used on her infant to plop onto James' face as a hint before going up to do it herself while the boys hardly noticed as they kept bickering.

Even as Remus joined, stirring brown sugar into his eggs but still mixing more than eating them, Harry seemed the last to really wake up. Who would have thought he'd long for the dreams of the graveyard back, yet the replay of watching Sirius fall through the veil all night had been more a stab to his soul than Voldemort could ever do to him.

He would have thought coming down here and finally interacting with him would help, but even watching that color on his face, hearing him chat animatedly with his dad, watching him shift his

weight restlessly as even food couldn't contain all of his energy, it only made the feeling he'd been suppressing the past day double. This wasn't his Sirius, the one he'd lost fourteen years from now. So how then was he supposed to cope with a loss when it kept making jokes in his face?

Lily had to wrangle all of the boys to get into the living room so they could start Harry's next year, if she had to see her boy with half-lidded eyes much longer she would have tucked him back into bed herself, yet just as much she couldn't have stood hearing the sounds of his nightmares through the walls. She and James had gone in there through the night to sooth him, but he'd hardly seemed any better in their presence.

She'd even seen Sirius duck out, but his presence seemed to have helped no more. Their ability to comfort him had lasted no longer than his childhood innocence, and it was quickly growing worse

by the hour as he continued to pull away from them, absorbed more than ever in memories of pain. So she went back to reading, determined more than ever to help him have all of those moments from his past back, so that he could start focusing on his had been fully prepared to start back in Privet Drive, hearing of Harry's suffering there again somehow worse than ever, so the response on the tip of his tongue fell flat and instead they all gave mutters of confusion, and some relief. They had no clue what a Muggle Prime Minister had to do with anything, but honestly the fact that they weren't focusing on Harry right now was a bit of relief considering where they'd left him.

Lily took this in stride though. The fact that it wasn't starting on Voldemort was as good a note as she could ask for considering previous times these books had gone off Harry, so she happily asked of him, "oh, do you know who it is?"

"No," Harry answered with a shrug. He hadn't done a very good job of keeping up with Muggle politics.

Lily went back to the book in slight disappointment. Her father worked in the current Prime Ministers office as the secretary, and it would have been interesting if Harry knew anything about

the future of the position.

"It's good to know Muggles struggled with their homework as much as we did," Sirius snickered.

James continued listening with high curiosity, he had not a clue how the Muggles government worked, he'd never really asked Lily about it, but this wasn't starting off very interesting.

"Ugh, politics," Remus made a face.

All five of them lost a shade in color of shock for that. Maybe it was because of their, better knowledge, but Harry most of all shivered at what could really be implied with this. All last

summer he'd been begging for this kind of news, now he seemed to be getting it.

To the others it just explained why this was being shown at all, though clearly it had nothing to do with Harry. Perhaps now that the Ministry had no choice at the end of his last year to acknowledge Voldemort's return, they were given the greater impact of this on the Muggle world before going back to him. Not something they really wanted to hear, they could get all they liked of this from their own time.

Sirius gave a bleak laugh before saying, "aw, look, the whole country's feeling the same way I am." He waited patently for Prongs to reach over and smack him, but his own smile didn't dim.

"Speak of the You-Know-Who," Remus muttered snidely.

Lily tried for a smile, but it was flimsy at best.

Lily shifted uneasily in place. This wasn't even about Harry, but if this book started off with anther murder of a stranger being described like Harry's fourth year had, she'd start screaming already. Was it so impossible to keep going without all of this fear smothering them through these words.

"Ah," they muttered, mostly in further confusion. This man was a Muggle, what was he doing with a Wizards painting? And the description wasn't one they exactly enjoyed, it reminded them

far to much of pink, a reminder no one needed as of now.

"What was the point of posing it as a question if he was just going to barge in anyways?" James said through gritted teeth, all of them red faced with anger. They'd rather focus on just about

anything than hearing more of that dunderhead.

No one responded, but Lily wasn't surprised. It seemed just like Fudge to find himself important enough to rearrange someones else's life for whatever this was that involved him.

"Better than apparating I suppose," Remus couldn't help but grudgingly give credit for this. "Least the flame's a bit of a warning, would have given the man heart failure to just appear out of nowhere instead."

None of them could help a little snort of laughter, honestly they all agreed with that.

Harry frowned, though not in sympathy. It was about time someone other than him felt the pressure of what was going on, and if Fudge had only listened sooner maybe he wouldn't be looking so bad.

"Man knows how to send a message," Sirius said after a heavy chuckle.

Lily couldn't help but pause at the last name Vance. Emmeline was one who'd actually survived through the first time in the Order, and it would truly be tragic for her to lose someone else now,

yet she'd wish that fate upon no one, especially not Emmeline's niece or any other member of her family that could apply to.

"I do like that he didn't automatically blame us, considering he knows of us," Lily said with a small smile.

"Why would he do that? You certainly didn't," Remus snapped.

James knew that feeling all to well, he'd had several of them in the past week alone, since Harry had arrived here a grown man.

"Naturally," Sirius giggled.

"Actually, I've never thought about this," James still had that interested smile in place. "I knew that the Muggles often reported our news, usually to keep them aware of...well anything majorly bad going on, but it never occurred to me who told them, or how they knew."

"Hooray for answers you never asked," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Can't even blame him there," Sirius shook his head in sympathy, he knew he still wanted to duck and cover at the mention of those beasts, imagine that being one of the first things you heard.

Harry twitched in agitation, remembering that all to well, and knowing what Fudge would really be like in a matter of years.

"He wasn't kidding," Sirius stated with a bleak smile, that turned into a true one when Harry still managed a slight giggle at this never ending joke no matter how much the others groaned in misery.

"I'd do it for an entirely different reason, but to each his own," Remus pleasantly informed.

"Honestly the perfect amount of flamboyant," Lily couldn't help but smile, knowing certain others who would have gotten carried away proving what they were saying.

The Marauders had the decency not to bother denying what she was implying.

"Please tell me he named it Teacup?" Sirius chuckled.

"He's got him there," James chuckled.

"Rude," Lily sniffed, wishing he'd stuck around encase the poor man had more questions, but at the same time she could understand anyone not wanting to linger, the Muggle needed a chance to

recharge after an encounter like that.

"Another wizard," Sirius said in a duh voice.

"What are the odds he would run into one while sharing this?" Remus rolled his eyes.

"I wonder how that conversation went," James ruffled his hair curiously, imagining Muggles trying to explain away permanent sticking charms and the like.

Lily groaned and grumbled a bit. She wasn't even that high in the Ministry yet and could imagine all the paperwork that would have caused to help smooth those things over, Fudge really should

have at least explained that!

"That sounds far more like he'd be going mad than anything else," Sirius said in exasperation. He certainly knew the more you tried not to do something the more tempting it became.

Lily paused with some torn expression on her face. It was part tight lipped pain for something, and part long exasperation for an overplayed joke that they didn't understand until Lily spelled out the word,

Sirius at least burst out laughing the Muggle had no clue of what had been going on, but the others couldn't muster up the same. Who knew hearing of Sirius getting out of Azkaban would be the

highlight when it came to what his life would hold.

Harry in particular shivered and leaned just a bit closer to his godfather for the reminder he would have been all to happy to forget all over again of the travesty, but Sirius just threw an easy arm around him and happily encouraged Lily to go on like he was hoping more name puns would appear any moment.

Lily admired his optimism even as she wished James would smack him again.

Harry at least got a smile for that, always enjoying the phenomenon of someone not knowing who he was. Maybe he should spend more time in the Muggle world.

Lily only got that out through heavily gritted teeth, the pain and anger still lingering of all the things surrounding Sirius, and just because he wasn't around to suffer this injustice anymore didn't make that slight any better in this time!

Remus clucked his tongue in agitation. He'd always found it stupid to refer to Voldemort as that, and this was a prime example of why. That was a ludicrous sentence if ever he'd heard one.

"Honestly though, why the title again?" James snarked rather than thinking about whatever else was shared that night, as if he needed more of a reminder of all Harry went through.

"Which will apparently mean nothing in a very short time," Sirius snarled what no one needed reminding of.

Remus looked a tad interested at this line of thinking on the mans part. He wasn't wrong of course, but also it was a useless statement as a madman would always have power, and therefore would always have those seeking it and therefore support.

Sirius flinched that Lily could hardly say his name without a bit of a hitch in her throat. It was like that first book all over again, and now his own name would feel as terrible a constant reminder as her own.

He of course couldn't stand for that, so told her, "what's with the tone Lils? I know you worry about me on a constant basis without anyone telling you to."

Her nostrils flared for a moment as she eyed him, but couldn't quite hide a smile either when she snapped, "then stop giving me reasons to you idiot."

"You and me both," James snapped.

Lily's mouth twitched in a smile again, she didn't even need to look up to visualize the four agitated expressions for the butchering of that word.

"Thank you for summarizing all of my hatred for that year in one sentence, much easier that way," James scowled.

Remus couldn't help but snicker just a bit, Fudge really had always been terrible at his job.

Lily couldn't help but scowl at bit, this man was just useless.

"He hadn't even caught the last one yet!" Sirius threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, though he threw his voice like he was trying to mimic this Prime Minister instead to further put on

a joke instead of reminding them all of how not funny all of this was.

Harry couldn't help a sigh while rubbing at his scar already. It hadn't escaped his notice he'd been involved in every instance Fudge had appeared for, clearly his hope from before was already

eradicated, he couldn't even get by in the Muggle world.

"That poor man," Lily couldn't help but mutter, suddenly seven years old again and having far to much explained to her all at one time.

"At least it's not just us," Lily grumbled, or Harry, more accurately, but the point still stood.

"I really do like him. Muggle or no, can we have him as Minister," James sighed.

Lily couldn't help but stop and giggle this time before spelling out again the Muggle's misuse of Sirius' name, causing the man to preen and his friends to roll their eyes yet again.

Their amusement died that instant though, this was just something they could never joke about considering all there was to be said on the subject.

Lily's voice hitched hard, she could hardly say the word without flashing back to that dark room, that veil, and this time Sirius was all out of breath right with her.

James lip curled, the vicious comment on the tip of his tongue of how at least he could say that at some point...even when it was too late!

"Headliner news, honestly," Sirius snarked.

Lily couldn't stop her voice hitching any harder the second time she was forced to say that, it wouldn't get any easier to think of anymore than her own.

Harry tensed at his side, his face set with that scary calm expression of just who he owed for this fact.

"Right under their noses," James stated, keeping himself carefully neutral or he'd start screaming again.

Remus made an annoyed little huffy noise that of course this was what mattered most to Fudge.

"Far more than I'd give him," Sirius huffed.

Lily couldn't help but stop for just a moment, honestly hoping one of her boys would further that with a joke, but none did. They just couldn't make light of any of this when they kept being

reminded of far worse things.

"The most tragic thing anyone could have said about my life, I was forgotten!" Sirius declared.

He got a real smile for his comment all for himself when he saw Remus and Harry try to glare at him proving otherwise.

While surely this was not the first time something like this had happened, Lily still froze for the position Fudge had been put in. She couldn't imagine what the right answer to that was, and

wished the question on no man.

"Fault," Remus repeated with a heavy sigh. "Must there always be fault."

"Well sure it's obvious enough to say," James grumped, not nearly as enamored with this Muggle minister anymore. While not as annoying as Fudge, yet, clearly all politicians really were the

same, speaking the obvious answer and expecting someone else to do the hard work.

"I mean, he actually was dead for some of that," Sirius did offer, whatever form of not around Harry he was anyways for eleven years.

"Why are we passing this news along to him then?" Sirius huffed. It wasn't doing the man any good.

"I'm confident he was there to deliver the message about Voldemort and got sidetracked into this," Lily reminded.

"Thank you for the mental image though," James tried for a smile again, and Sirius was snickering so much in agreement he didn't even make a dog joke.

"Good to hear they're actually doing something of use," Sirius muttered, shifting restlessly at mention of that Department and glancing at Remus who still tried to force himself not to flinch at the name.

The name had niggled at something in Harry before, but now he heard the first name he recognized one of the few people at the trial who'd given him a chance. To hear she'd now been lost as well was still yet another blow, as if no decent people had a chance at living through this.

The bit of Voldemort doing it personally was sadly the only shocking part to them, they'd heard this far to many times in multiples over their time with the Order. It just never made the news easier to hear.

Lily felt as if her feet had been knocked out from under her, the room spun crazily for a moment and she had to shake her head hard to keep focus. How was it that every time she pictured all the

faces of the Order, another was left out...

"Next time we'll have it done a few dozen blocks away, make it more convenient!" Lily seethed, such anger coming from her words they expected her to spit fire next.

Harry shifted restlessly, clutching his wand tighter to him for a moment as if preparing to throw up a Patronus now at just the thought of those things. He had no want for those to be back in his life, to have Sirius' final words to him play out in his head again, and again...

James made a little humming noise, like he wanted to chuckle at that but the mood was still beyond him.

"Credit to the man remembering that so many years later," Remus forcefully tried for a pleasant comment.

Sirius ruined it at once by hissing, "not a conversation easily forgotten."

Harry gagged in shock, never before having wanted to question how the things came into existence, and no happier to hear an explanation now!

Remus eyed him for a moment but kept details to himself, for once, he could tell Harry wanted to hear none of them.

"Well that was, almost sweet," Lily muttered, her nails nearly breaking through the page already and having to force her hand to relax. They were only a few pages in and this was already

relentlessly depressing!

Finally, all five of them had a reason to perk up with interest, actual excitement for the prospect of news that didn't create more gloom for them!

"The man still has a sense of humor!" Sirius yelped, that was the first bit of good news he'd ever heard about him.

"Wish we'd seen more of that than his blithering ways," James agreed, but quickly waved Lily on to hear of a replacement who hopefully wasn't such a dunderhead.

Remus was saddened at the display of empathy, as if they needed more people understanding the woes of their world.

"Can't even blame the man," James said scathingly. Even with all Dumbledore had done to them recently, he could still understand being like this to someone at least minorly responsible.

Lily's brows shot up in confusion for that, but Harry just shrugged with as much knowledge as anyone for what that could have meant.

"Finally a man that makes sense." Even at his words James was blinking in mild confusion why Scrimgeour had gotten the job. He was a high end Auror now, not quite as well known as Moody,

but certainly none to be trifled with. Yet he'd never seemed one for politics that they'd known of, clearly something had changed though for this kind of step to be taken, not at all a bad thing

considering what Harry had been putting up with.

Harry's brows ruffled as he picked upon this name that shouldn't be so new to him. Considering his interactions with Fudge, he supposed not feeling black anger for the man was off to a good

start, but he wasn't really sure what he felt either.

"Would he really say no at this point?" Sirius muttered.

"Adapting," Remus tried to say in a chipper tone of voice, but they were already exhausted and wanted this to be done with. They'd had enough of hearing about Ministers already, another

arriving wasn't going to give them much heart.

That at least gave them a small laugh for such a description arriving, clearly Scrimgeour had gotten on in years more than they'd initially thought.

"I can't say another solider pushing for firepower will make it better though," Lily argued what she'd said many times in the past few weeks as the change was coming for a new Minister soon.

"Can't hurt either," James disagreed.

The two met eyes with a smile just for each other.

"I don't blame the man needing an escape from these two," Sirius agreed.

His only response was to say he didn't want to be watched, or interrupted.

"Well he certainly makes an impression," James couldn't help but agree with this logic right off the bat.

The lot of them snorted in surprise at Kingsley showing up again like this, though it was just a bit more forced than they would have liked...considering his last assignment was no longer needed.

"Humm, I wonder why," Sirius said dryly, his voice far more high pitched than he'd meant from continued stress watching everyone around him fidget with unease that even a person once

associated helping him now doing something else could still so easily upset.

"I wonder how often that happens," James muttered without much care for an answer this time. He wasn't surprised when no one knew.

"Bit of a tail chaser this one is," Remus got a half smile for that, this Muggle really had a problem picking a side, but then, who could blame him with who he was dealing with.

"I can tell how well this relationship's going to go," Sirius snorted.

"Clearly," Lily repeated snappily, she already wasn't having to high an opinion for this new Minister, a little sympathy wouldn't kill the man fighting this war.

"Not much of a problem at all," Sirius agreed, smiling much easier at a pun he would have loved to insert about barking being much harder to cope with, but Lily wasn't waiting around for it.

"Eesh," Harry winced, rubbing at his neck. He'd never thought of Healers having to restrain violent patents and wasn't happy doing so now.

Lily scoffed heavily now with a nasty catch in her throat. How was a lack of caring for the people better than Fudge's lack of caring for the truth?

While none of them carried much for Fudge after all he'd done to Harry, they certainly didn't hate him enough to laugh at this predicament of being demoted like that, it was just insulting the way Scrimgeour put it.

"Ah the ignorance of Muggles," James sighed, twirling his wand around with loaded eyes out the window.

"What's worse, magic we can't use without turning into them as well," Sirius added on quietly for Harry, who only nodded without surprise. Gone were the days where he was confused at

comments like this.

"Well that was a terribly depressing way to start," Lily snapped, shoving the book towards James with such force he let out a woof of air when it hit him.

She uttered a genuine apology which he gratefully accepted, kissing her temple before flipping to the next one.


	2. SPINNER'S END

Jeez! I went back and checked, and James has read both previous chapters where Wormtail's done crap to them! Not to mention the crappiest chapter in two and Sirius' death in five! Merlin help me, I didn't do it on purpose, I swear! Prongs forgive me! At this point it's not even funny anymore, it's just depressing that James once again got the chapter where Wormtail is in it and doing more things to torment them...

HPHPHPHP

James started without much more enthusiasm than his wife had, but after that beginning he almost wished it would get back to Harry. Better to hear of his son than the rest of the depressing news they couldn't escape in their own time, they didn't need Harry's future piling it up.

They all raised confused brows at the start to this as well. Unless Harry was starting in some truly odd place, this was like nothing they recognized.

"Oh, well at least we're still hearing about our world, I got concerned there for a minute Evans had picked up one of her other books," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus couldn't help but frown lightly at such brutality to an animal. All of them were shifting in unease that clearly they were hearing of something they wouldn't want Harry around. Anyone who sent that kind of curse out on a first instinct could be nothing but a Death Eater.

As if he'd needed his suspicions confirmed, Sirius' face spasmed with hate for that echo of his childhood being recalled. Only Narcissa's sisters called her that, when he or his brother tried they'd been cursed with much worse than a stinging hex. Obviously, unless something quite deranged was going on, that wasn't Andromeda chasing down a Malfoy, so then...

"Sirius?" The concern of his godsons voice jolted him out of his own head, but it helped nothing to have even a vague idea of what was being told. All he could do now was hope more than ever

Harry wasn't anywhere around this. "Don't worry pup, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," James disagreed at once, scrutinizing him as much as Harry was.

"You recognize who that is," Remus agreed, crossing his arms and making it clear Sirius wasn't going to worm out of this one.

Sirius sighed, but recognizing it would come sooner than later so there was no point in sitting on it, he admitted his shrewd idea of who these two women were.

The reaction was not pretty.

"Deep breaths Harry," he tried to sooth anyways, his godson had at once flipped to that look of murderous outrage that honestly scared the others. It just wasn't natural for him.

Harry hardly seemed to hear him, unable to focus on anything but that mad laugh echoing through his mind.

"Come on now Harry," Sirius kept wheedling, throwing his mind around for anything he could say, and more disturbed than anything it was so hard keeping his attention.

"Why do we have to hear this!" His voice filled with far more anger than any of them had ever heard.

"You think we've enjoyed hearing the rest of the mess you've been in? We don't exactly get to pick and choose," Lily reminded with sympathy, she'd happily skip this as well, but worried that

since it was included, it would be important to Harry later, and that was far more important than her own discomfort for the reminder of what this woman would do.

Harry wanted to keep arguing, he didn't find it important at all to hear what they were up to, it would only make the pain all the sharper when he was forced to remember his miserable time at

the Dursley's later, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt the murder of Sirius had only impacted his life and no one else's.

As his father kept going though, he held his tongue for one reason only, he wanted to know what their plan was, to be able to stop it.

Sirius flinched, not exactly happy he was right, but yawned theatrically to keep attention on himself for another reason, smiling innocently on them all.

James already had little goosebumps all along him, wanting to smash this book on both of their heads and then continue into cursing them with everything he had, but instead he forced himself to focus on what they were actually saying. It wasn't a good sign they were arguing about something.

Sirius made a heavy noise of contempt and rolled his eyes, stating, "of course if it isn't covered in little kids she can torture she won't approve-"

He stopped as Harry's grip on him turned bruising painful, and he relinquished he wasn't going to be getting away with that kind of humor around his pup, who kept freaking out about every little thing like it was going to drag him away right now.

They all startled in surprise for that, though Sirius hardest of all. He just couldn't picture it, that maniac of a teenager fantasizing about You-Know-Who as long as Sirius had known her, the cold blooded woman who'd dropped out of school the moment she'd found a way into their crew. It was mind numbing, what Narcissa could be doing to have Bellatrix saying something like this!

"Well whoever this is, I approve," James said at once.

"Don't go jumping conclusions now," Remus tired to caution. "Just because Bellatrix approves of him doesn't mean-"

James completely ignored him. He was going to keep looking for something to put a smile back in his wife, even if it wouldn't work on himself, and her seeing him push for this to be a good thing was the closest he'd already gotten today, so he wouldn't let Moony ruin it.

"That sounds right," Sirius muttered for himself.

They all frowned uncomfortably for this. It didn't garner sympathy for her exactly, James was still trying to read with the air this should all be considered a good thing for them, but at the same time it was worrying what had this Death Eater so on edge.

Sirius wasn't even surprised she'd done it, he'd give Narcissa credit for being determined, plus he wanted to applaud anyone burning Bellatrix considering with every passing second Harry paled more for just having to hear her name.

Lily startled so much in surprise the infant in her lap wailed. She moved robotically to place him closer to her chest, her eyes a far distance away from their home now.

"Lily?" James called in concern, moving to put this aside and go to her.

"I-he- why-" she seemed incapable of getting a full sentence out, even when her husband sat down beside her and started playing with her hair. He'd never missed an opportunity to learn

something about her, even the unpleasant things like this so clearly was.

The boys were honestly terrified to know what had caught her so off guard, worse than even Bellatrix could have done. Yet Harry picked up the book his dad had discarded and kept going through the stunned silence, still far more determined to keep Bellatrix Lestrange in his sights and not get distracted by anything else.

Sirius did manage a snort of laughter of all things, still eyeing his would be sister with worry and hoping to catch her attention like usual, but she still seemed lost beyond holding her child as close to her as she could.

"That's not-" James tired to yelp in protest, but his infant still whining slightly in his mothers ear cut him off. The reaction wasn't any less vivid in silence, his face twisted with more dislike than he ever could have called upon as a teenager. After what Snape had done to Sirius, to Harry last year! He didn't care what Dumbledore or the Order said, he'd never get near Snivellus without making sure the man never walked away from it.

Then it all really caught up to him, and he glanced down at his beautiful red head, whispering what he already knew, "you knew that was going to be him."

Lily had to take a careful breath before answering, and even then she spoke so quietly it was as if she was hoping no one would hear her. "Spinner's End is the street we used to live on." Now that the words were out, the damn of her mind broke, and so many questions poured through her she didn't know where to begin. Why was he still living there, he'd hated it more than her! She knew teachers could live at the castle, and that's where she'd thought he'd been staying if she'd considered it at all. Why this place? What held him there all these years later when Lily hadn't even been since her final summer there with her parents, and had refused visiting his actual place since the summer before. She wouldn't speak to him at their home anymore than she would at school.*

"Sounds like a dump," Sirius inserted in what he clearly thought was a helpful tone of voice. "Suits him, though I can't picture you in such a rundown place."

"Gone to seed just like your old neighborhood," Remus reminded. Honestly neither could picture it, even with how many years they'd spent in school watching Evans seek out Snivellus, the same little girl going over to her friends house like they had for James so many summers.

Harry was no more happy to continue than his mother now. If Umbridge and Voldemort appeared here, all the people he most hated in his life would be in one place, only focusing on half of them wasn't anymore fun.

Harry shivered in particular disgust for that description.

Sirius made an agitated little expression he shared anything with Bellatrix, their blood was already too much, he didn't need added something like Snape's loathing.

James opened, and quickly closed his mouth. Of the multiple snide comments he had for that, seeing Lily so tense and ill at ease would never make any of them funny. He wasn't even sure he

understood why she was so upset, she'd been adjusting to listening to him the past few days without such a clear problem. She'd even defended his position in the last one that he'd done all he could to help Sirius, not that James believed that. The only conclusion he could draw was somehow picturing him back in his childhood home made it all the harder to continuously

recognize he was in fact now using the very same place Lily had once sought refuge to house Death Eaters instead.

He was exactly right, she just didn't have the words for it. Lily instead took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, just taking comfort in her life now and refusing to cry again for her past.

Sirius did not have the same reserves as Prongs, taking full advantage of this. "Which genuinely surprises me he leaves his cave at all! How he can stand the sunlight I still don't understand."

Remus gave a forced laugh while Harry couldn't even muster up a smile, just trying to get through this as fast as possible.

"He what!?"

Sirius had gone still as stone, and Remus had actually fallen out of his seat in surprise. Lily took the moment to leap across him and everything as she went to put their infant away from any

mention of this.

James' shout reverberated off the walls and was still echoing back when he snatched the book back to him, nearly taking a few of Harry's fingers with it. He just couldn't imagine this, of all things!

His Peter in the company of Voldemort was enough to burn his soul, what he'd done to Harry was unforgivable, but this was...just unbelievable! He'd hardly a moment in the haze of his worry for Sirius to just be grateful there had been no mention of his lost brother, to find some small bit of happiness Peter hadn't been involved in Sirius' death. Beyond trying not to think about him at all, he'd never questioned what he was up to, let alone this!

Then Sirius started to laugh.

It was maniacal, and unhinged, but he neither noticed, nor cared. This was by far the one and only thing in the world Sirius had never envisioned doing to him, and yet it was such a punishment Sirius couldn't have done better himself! They'd spent the best years of their life looking down on Snivellus, now him of all people was in the same house as him, and Snape was the superior of this!

Remus got uneasily back into his seat, but even more distracted from what he was really hearing now more than before. This mess of a future just kept managing to hit them with the heaviest

bricks it could find, every one of them leaving a larger hole than the last.

Lily came practically stamping back in, rubbing at her temple and not aware of any of this as she sat down next to Harry. She had been expecting a miserable start to her sons next year,

unavoidable considering who would be missing from all of it now, but none of them would have predicted they'd start off this bad when they hadn't even gotten to Harry yet.

Harry felt the same, and honestly wished to get back to his own life already, at least he could take comfort in hearing Sirius' real life in that than this cackling that gave him chills. So he offered his hand out for the book, but his dad refused.

Through gritted teeth, foul mutterings, and sheer willpower to pretend this didn't bother him no matter how much he failed at it, he violently kept going. Only taking one more glance at Lily, who looked no happier at the proceedings, but was at least off of that nasty shock of where this was all taking place, and instead was on the same level as the rest of them wrapping her head around this. They were all failing.

Remus reached out and kicked Sirius, hard, as his noise had only increased into hysteria at the reminder. Padfoot did stop, abruptly, and Remus took the opportunity to drag him over to sit

beside him instead, telling him not so politely to shut up as that wasn't helping anyone.

Still very red in the face and breathing heavily, Sirius didn't protest, but instead was watching Prongs now like he expected him to go into a fit next now that he'd had his. His best friend sadly was still in the middle of one, and clearly would be until he'd finished.

Something about hearing Snape refer to him like that was even worse than Voldemort doing it! James just couldn't understand, why of all things did the book keep having to refer to him as that!

Lily's eyes were swimming, being forced to watch her husband read that as if force fed poison, wondering just the same what Snape had done to him, and reminding herself she didn't care, she shouldn't...but she still did.

Sirius couldn't repress a deep throated rumbling noise, like he was going to start that mocking version of laughing again for this, but this time Remus grasped his shoulder painfully tight and hissed in his ear, "this isn't about you, Prongs is going to go mad if you interrupt him again!"

Sirius nodded, the noise ceased, but the look of incense somehow still managed to grow.

Somewhere deep in the corner of his mind that hadn't yet been blackened with all this, Remus still had to fight back the urge to warn Snivellus not to drink that, his sneaky mate may have poisoned it...but then it all caught up to him and he couldn't decide who he'd have drink it first.

James stared at that for a long time, like he was hoping his old friend would leap right out of the pages and somehow still explain it was all an elaborate ruse, or Snape would go after him and cut him down on the spot like he'd had a hand in doing to him...but neither was happening, and he forced some kind of relief back onto his presence as he meandered back over to Harry, not even recognizing anyone had changed seats or much of anything past getting through the rest of this so he'd never have to think of that again.

Lily flinched like she'd been slapped, Sev might as well have all over again. She could pretend all she liked, but no matter how many years later, the sting was still there from the first day he'd shown what side he was really on.

Remus had to shake his ears like he was getting water out of them, he could hardly remember already what had started all of this.

It took no time at all to process that, and as if thinking of a true ghost rather than refusing to admit the fate Sirius would befall, it was almost nostalgic for James to remember how often their old friend got away with this at school, how much had changed...

Unbidden, because he'd allowed just one single moment of nostalgia, the hope was back in a smothering amount. How he still wanted to piece together more than anything some plan gone

awry, and his old brother would come out a good man still...and then his breath caught, and he shook his head so hard his glasses slid right off. He quickly put them back and kept going louder than ever, refusing to acknowledge what his heart was pleading for.

Sirius couldn't seem to help himself now and was insisting playing this all off. Too much else was happening, he needed to vent, so he theatrically grabbed his throat and vomited for agreeing with her, at least getting to watch Remus fake a smile, Harry couldn't yet mange it even as he did watch his godfather with an open expression again.

"At least some things don't change," Remus mock pleasantly agreed with Sirius' idea of playing this off. "He still smiles at others pain."

"Please don't name them all," Sirius huffed, "I've more than enough reasons without further agreeing with her."

James paused for breath himself, and glanced anxiously again at Lily. He'd already corrected himself, his false hope would always remain just that when it came to his friend, and he'd never want to watch Lily go through the same thing.

Sadly, he found the opposite, with hope kindling clear on her face. Despite Bellatrix being the one to hurl these around, the exact same things had been festering in Lily's mind from day one of this. She may have moved on with her life, and even tried disregarding him from her past especially recently with the way he'd been treating Harry in school, but some small part of her had been wondering these very things, leaving her unable to completely leave him to hang.

"Lily," he tried anyways, to curb whatever he could and lessen the blow, but she gave him a studious look that to his dying day he'd back down from.

"James, if you don't keep going, I will."

"Yes dear," he muttered, knowing he'd still be there for her even when she ignored his warning.

Sirius just scoffed. "He's always managed to slime his way free of half the detentions he earned. Though disappointed, I wasn't exactly surprised to find he'd lived through it."

Then Sirius' face puckered with disgust, and Lily was back to nibbling at her lip. Of one mind, with two different thoughts behind this. That did seem to give him more credibility when put like that...

James reached around Harry to give her shoulder a squeeze, but she still flicked her fingers at him to continue, she'd still rather hear him out...she hoped.

Causing all five of them a spasm of disgust. Dumbledore said he knew Snape to be innocent of this, yet Snape and Voldemort clearly thought otherwise. Harry felt a deep ache in him he knew

not to even glance at for an answer, but there it would sit for far longer than he thought he could stand. The end result was the same, he was still there torturing students in the meantime.

Harry watched the four around him make a face at that name, but felt a nasty crawling feeling up his spine for that and all of those names so didn't think much of it.

"She says that with such pride," Sirius muttered in disgust, still fighting back the urge to scream at the mere mention of that place.

"Make it stop!" Sirius howled in frustration, looking likely to beat his head against the wall he kept thinking the same thing as the pair of them! His mind felt so contaminated he wanted to set it ablaze!

"Think of it this way Pads," James softly offered, anything to focus on the here and now for a moment. "You're technically saying it first, so they're mimicking you."

Sirius did manage a smile then, he'd of course happily gloat over the fact that those two were just admitting he was right.

Harry got a funny feeling for that, putting a new frown on his face he blissfully ignored while he could.

"I still have something to say about it," James huffed, but in a truly odd turn of events was quite glad of Snape for once. At least he was keeping the conversation going. Remarkably, he still found him less repugnant than Bellatrix by just a few greasy hairs.

Lily could not help it that time, she preened. The boys had given her hell when she'd stood up for him at that time, but she still hadn't believed Sev would absolutely side with killing Harry over helping Voldemort... she wished she was as sure of herself now, there were to many other questions, but for the first time since all of this had started, she felt like she was finally getting them. Peeling back the layers of snide comments he used only on others but her, she wanted to cry with jubilation it was Severus just giving her information instead of beating around the bush like her old Headmaster tended to do.

James hated the biting way he had to say that, as much for it finally being from the man's mouth as well as seeing what it did to Lily. She flinched again with confusion, clearly as wrong-footed on going so back and forth with him as he was. He glanced to his friends, but their expressions of pity helped nothing. It bothered him just as much as anything he couldn't read past this to see what their real thoughts were regarding, anything right now.

"Really? Even when he does very certain things, like-"

Remus flicked him in the ear more for the comment than the actual interruption.

James breath caught hard in his throat, and this time he was purely grateful for Sirius choosing that moment to snidely say, "well of course he would! That wasn't her fault at all for having to be rescued by him from Harry!"

Harry muttered something while James forced his eyes to drag away from his brother, convincing his mind all over again by looking at these words they were proof Sirius was still with him.

Harry jerked hard from a returned memory that still ached him raw and instead was nearly propelled into one he didn't yet have, but was sure he wasn't going to enjoy understanding.

"Six teenagers that kicked their arse," Lily reminded with fiery pride.

"Six teenagers that never should have been there," Harry quietly reminded before anyone else could agree, which he no more wanted to hear than what Sirius predictably snapped.

"We're not going there again Harry!"

He simply nodded he understood, meeting his eyes long enough to prove he agreed, even if when he finally looked away they immediately were covered with the ghost of a film being replayed

over and over again.

Lily hissed in disgusted frustration, as blackened at the confirmation of this as she was with herself for believing otherwise for even a second. She smacked James' hand away and refused to even acknowledge she'd been entertaining any such thing though, she had enough practice at it by now.

James turned a pasty, nasty color in shock for this just being mentioned so casually twice now! He'd been expecting it sure, but from Harry, with the love and respect of what he'd done being in there as well, this was callous and disgusting! He only read the next line from sheer shock before his voice froze over.

Sirius couldn't help but shake his head at the most threatening noise he'd ever heard Remus make while shifting protectively beside him, the other three being no better over there. This was no more pleasant to be thinking of than realizing he'd been there as well, so Sirius just whistled innocently, catching Prong's attention, who quickly moved on.

"So much for, tells each other everything," Sirius pleasantly mocked.

"Well it's so nice to know what was going through his head during his first mocking of me," Harry bitterly muttered.

Harry turned green with disgusted shock, moving to cover his scar than rub at it for once. While not exactly something he enjoyed having, it was not something he'd ever considered dark when he found what had truly given it to him. For anyone to think he could be the next Voldemort because of it, even when he himself feared it would take over his life...

His dad elbowed him hard in the ribs while his mother gently took his hand away, both showing in their own not so subtle ways they no more believed this than they would of themselves.

Still he couldn't help wrinkling his face up in disgust again, and no one disagreed, it sounded as ludicrous as if Snape had spoken of falling in love with Sirius.

Harry couldn't help sheepishly avoiding a nod in a bit of agreement with that though.

James tried for almost a smug, proud look at how much like him his son was, no matter the way Snape phrased it, and almost managed the first pleasant expression of the day.

"Which is going to be the death of him, I swear," Sirius scoffed, unbelieving that old bat was just speaking so casually about all of this, but that was the Snape he'd always loathed and hated. He just couldn't wait to wave this particular bit under Dumbledore's nose before he got a chance to start all this.

"Urgh, you know this is bad when the two are agreeing with each other, worse than when I was," Sirius said with pure disdain.

Lily though was looking a touch concerned again, though not for anyone present. She'd wondered before, but this was growing more worrisome by the moment. What was Narcissa Malfoy so afraid of?

James looked as if he'd swallowed a particularly foul smelling lemon, while Lily's face crumpled with misery again, and all for Malfoy...Draco Malfoy!

Harry glanced at them in disbelief, then even to the other two who looked like they had no clue how to react to this. While most recently lowest on the list of people he wanted gone from his life, he by no means would go out of his way to help Draco...and yet something in him agreed with their put out expressions. What Narcissa was doing was so, human! More than they'd ever seen from any Death Eater, ever! She was pleading for help with her child, like any of them would do for Harry, like Lily had once done to no affect of the same Dark Lord...could Snape really make a difference for this?

"The bloody hell are they having him do?" Sirius burst with more confusion than outrage, but it was all mingled in there. "He's sixteen, what's he going to do against anyone?"

"Something Narcissa has no hopes he can do," James muttered, gazing at all of this like a lost lamb. He wanted to sneer and scathe yet more workings of the Death Eaters were going on, but it was much harder than he would have thought, hearing of this through a parents tears.

James paused again, they were all puzzling those words together, and it wasn't creating an easy picture. Whatever this was going on, it gave Harry the worst pain yet of his young mind, and yet a sense of triumph, like he wanted to shout he knew it all along...it was the most disorienting feeling there was.

"Urgh, now I have this idea Snape's Malfoy's godfather or something, please stop explaining his chain of friends to me," Sirius grumbled for himself, not wanting Lily to hear that one.

While this may have been of news to them, it was hardly shocking to those of this time. Of course this was the way Voldemort operated, they'd all known this from what felt like the beginning of their lives. New though, was this shock of Narcissa's, as if learning for the first time what she was

involved in, who she was serving.

Hearing this, Sirius couldn't help but wonder again, what had made Regulus back out? Had made him start to question all this?

James couldn't help the honest sorrow piercing his words, his gaze actually understanding of all things. He knew nothing more about her than what little Sirius would have said, but this one

moment showed all he needed to know. He would have helped her, right then, no matter what. He kept going as if actually reading the death of a friend, a fellow Order member even. As far as they could tell, Draco was as good as dead, likely not even going to show up for Harry's sixth year, and Narcissa would morn this loss with their sympathy.

"Let's see her have a child and say that again," Lily spat in disgust, having the sudden urge to put herself between the sisters. It was no more than she expected, watching her boys hold their tongues and silently feel for this woman, but Lily alone knew what it was to feel the loss of a mothers child, she'd felt it the moment she'd learned who Voldemort's true target was that Halloween night.

Harry's eyes flipped with concern, or surprise, the lurch pushing through him was hard to make out. It may have been the latter, it certainly mirrored the others expressions, that Snape was offering help!

Sirius let out a low throated whistle and Remus shifted uneasily in place, while Harry gazed around clearly missing something. Curious enough, and having that annoying feeling it would

come up again anyways, he asked what that was.

"A magically binding contract. If you willfully break it, you drop dead." Lily distractedly told him, missing the expression on his face as she sat laser focused on James. This Snape may be lost to Voldemort as the Death Eater he was, but to her own disgust, even this couldn't stop her finding that same childhood friend of hers all over again, in helping this crying girl in need once more, on the very street it started for her.

"She says that as if she wasn't a Slytherin herself," Remus muttered.

James glared down at that, his eyes squinted and honestly unsure what to make of this. It was probably the most admirable thing he'd ever heard Snape do in his life, truly an odd thing to be

thinking about someone he so deeply loathed, who he put partial blame on for what happened to Sirius.

Lily clasped her hands together and just looked at peace. This didn't exactly make up for what he'd done to her all those years ago, but finally, despite everything he'd done and would do; she'd still never forgive him for the way he treated Harry and the hand he'd just admitted to in Emmiline's death, yet he was still in there. Maybe, just maybe, if Lily still went to him now, pleaded for her child in this same way..she must still mean something to him.

Bellatrix's mouth fell open. Snape lowered himself so that he was kneeling opposite Narcissa. Beneath Bellatrix's astonished gaze, they grasped right hands.

"That's an expression I wouldn't mind immortalizing," Sirius sniffed.

"She really should clarify watch over more," Remus critiqued for himself. These were of the most powerful magical bindings after all, wouldn't want a little something like not checking on Malfoy every half hour be the death of him...or well, anybody but Snape.

"Could he?" Harry's question came out as a whisper, watching all of this with deep interest. Usually he didn't feel so strongly for anything regarding Snape, but now, he just knew something of this, whatever was being unsaid, he'd have to know every detail about in a not so pleasant way.

"Break away? No, not until Bellatrix draws her wand away, otherwise he's breaking it right then," Sirius explained, the same detached expression on his face as the others. There was just no mocking to be had for what Snape was doing right now, a concept in itself for the Marauders.

"That's finished," James muttered, face still to pale, hands shaking slightly as he moved the book away from him. Of all the opening's to these they'd yet had, this one certainly took the cake for most surprising.

HPHPHPHP

This is my least favorite chapter in all the books, not counting character deaths. Those are a different kind of bad. It's just such a buzzkill for me at the end when I realized there was no 'secret meaning' behind this. I kept expecting Bellatrix and Narcissa to show up at school for some reason and have another chat with Snape explaining something further, and then in the end when I realized this was not a red hearing but in fact just ruining the whole middle of the book where you know Harry's right, this chapter alone made me dislike this book the most out of the whole series. This couldn't have been shown during Snape's memories during the seventh book? This bit of plot couldn't have been worked in any other way?! I hate spoilers, and for this book to be giving one in its very own chapters just made me want to mark this whole bit out with whiteout. I was even tempted to skip this chapter for the reading, but ultimately decided against it purely for the sake of authenticity, so be grateful this one exists.

* This actually is something that puzzled me, and I put it down to a wishful nostalgia. Snape probably did go back there, frequented the park and their little forest spot all the time. Who needs dementors when you can relive your own childhood bitterly in person.

** This one saddens me. As we know from the next book, often times Snape is helping both sides while keeping the Order first, but still accidentally screws up, like getting George's ear cut off. Yet how on earth could he 'accidentally,' give the right information for Emmeline? I honestly think that he may have really given real information to get her killed, Voldemort was probably looking for something else and Snape put this up there as a red herring and Voldemort fell for it, and so did

Emmiline.

*** I've seen people try to give credit that JK had planned on Bellatrix being pregnant during this scene for this line. I guess I kind of of see why people think that, but don't entirely agree either. I reread this after I learned who Delphini's mother is, and apparently she would have either very recently, or is fixing to have Delphini for the timeline of this to work...and really? I know Bellatirx has no feelings for anyone but the Dark Lord, and I've already had a rant about those two having a kid in a previous Author's note, but Bellatrix gives no feeling whatsoever for Narcissa here? In my opinion, she's still acting way to callus about the whole thing, as if she has no idea what she's talking about, not actually fixing to do just that. I know Cursed Child wasn't written by JK, just approved by her which is why it's marked as default cannon, but I still scratch my head why people go back and try to legitimize it through the books like this.


	3. WILL AND WON'T

Sirius took the book from James and idled a bit before starting. Torn between wanting to get back to Harry already and yet not wanting to just as much, for they'd find nothing more but depression if the way he was acting now was anything to go by. Yet all these extras just kept delaying it more than anything. Finally he took a deep breath and just jumped in, the dragging silence was worse than anything.

Then Sirius comically snorted, grinningly lovingly at his godson who was blushing just slightly, but finally. Just being back to chatting about him for even one second had them all smiling at

something again!

"I hope that was a very fascinating cat," James chuckled.

"Oh, that wasn't what I was watching," Harry corrected, the smile slipping away at once into an uneasy frown. His headmaster hadn't left a very good impression on his family because of his last

year, and he wasn't looking forward to their reaction of him showing up again so soon. So for now he feighend ignorance of anything else just for a few more seconds of peace.

Lily made a noise of distaste for that description, she'd had far to many details already of how that could have come true.

"I mean, you can't even really blame him," Sirius smirked at Lily's eye roll. "He's had people cleaning up after him all his life."

"The exact excuse he uses to never clean up his mess at home," Remus tragically bemoaned, waving him quickly on before he could go into a detailed account about how it wasn't really a mess until you couldn't see the floor anymore.

Sirius' face flipped to agitation at once. Harry had more than enough press in his life, so of course he just had to mock what was clearly making his pup uncomfortable."Yes, because the Boy Who Lived wasn't memorable enough! Lets brand him with another title!"

"I'm surprised they didn't call it the Boy Who Lived to be the Chosen One." Remus quietly snarked.

"That's a mouthful even for them." James heard anyways and poked them along.

Lily sighed heavily, but tried her best to get them to keep going. If they were already going to be like this just over the title of the article, they were going to be here for awhile.

Harry shivered heavily for just the name of that place again, honestly still wishing he could go back and erase the whole place from his mind all over again. For a moment his only solace was

the reassurance he tried to grasp at least he'd never have to go in there again.

Then Sirius gave him a comforting nudge and refused to let his own voice crack, and Harry had to come back to here and remember he did have more to take comfort in. So he put on a smile again

and insisted waving Sirius on like he really was getting over it so easily.

The others didn't buy it, but could no more force Harry to admit that than let him harm himself remembering anything before he should.

Harry grumbled a bit about how he wished they'd been smart enough to piece this all together a year ago, while Sirius just scoffed but pointed out, "only makes them seem stupider the longer

they take to catch up to us."

"And I didn't think it was possible for them to be going any slower before all this," James agreed.

"That is quite a leap," Lily snapped.

"A true one," Harry reminded in a less biting tone. He regretted the words the moment they came out, tensing and avoiding all eyes, not wanting to go anywhere near that conversation again. To

his relief they didn't force him to, his parents just brushed him reassuringly while waving Sirius on.

"Why on earth was the first part of this necessary if we're getting all of this information again anyways?" Remus groused.

"Since when do you complain about learning more," Sirius demanded.

"When you're the one giving it," Remus snipped back.

"Oh well then be my guest," Sirius mocked, trying to pass the book to him, but Remus smacked him instead.

"Can't be any worse than what Fudge was going through," James said blandly.

Sirius made a face at that particular bit being cut off, so supplied himself, "known to cause misery and hope all at the same time, truly a gift of a man we've never had before-"

He ducked this time and used the book as a shield as Moony made to smack him again, then pouted at his grumpy friend who'd been refusing to play along all day. Prongs was being of no more help and he was going to have an aneurysm if he couldn't get some proper laughing in before lunch!

James mock yawned and even Lily couldn't pretend much enthusiasm for this. They'd never feared the safety of their school before they found out what all Harry went through, and didn't have much hope this Scrimgeour would clear it up any better than Dumbledore's lack less attempts.

"Well the Aurors are new," Sirius pointed out happily, wondering if at least Harry would get a treat out of that. He hadn't mentioned it for a while, but as far as they knew he still wanted to be one.

"Though I'm blasted what enchantments they think they've added that haven't already been inlaid in the school already," Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius was as glad as anyone that had been cut off. He adored Neville and now respected him as highly as he would with Ron and Hermione for all he'd done, but that coming from Augusta,

especially after the way she'd spoken back in St. Mungo's, felt more like bragging than the praise he deserved for those feats.

Not to mention the increasing amount of times this had been mentioned already still made Harry look likely to be sick again any moment. They hadn't expected it to never be spoken of again, but clearly repetition wasn't helping Harry to move past that memory.

"I wonder if those were kept in storage all these years or something," James sighed heavily. His infant enjoyed gumming on the bright pamphlet now, and it had been quite something his elder counterpart had never had to be anywhere nearer to it. Now that was as gone as surely as all his baby teeth.

Harry frowned uneasily at this one like he had all those summers ago. Now with someone to ask, he glanced at his mum, but his mind was on another. "Are Muggleborns allowed to use magic to put those up then?"

Lily hesitated too long in answering, which was answer enough before she tried to explain, "yes and no. We were still told not to use magic, but if we contacted the Ministery they would come

over and place some up if requested. My parents allowed it, but I know some who never invested in the idea and...paid for it." She finished softly.

Harry tensed uneasily as he glanced out the window. He'd never felt safe at the Dursleys, but that was for a wholly other reason than his inability to do magic there. It occurred to him for the first time though, if Hermione had been attacked while she was at home, her parents were defenseless. What must that feel like, to be the sole person, the child having to protect your parents? It scared him to think about, but could come up with no honest solution either, you couldn't force the parents to just accept someone coming into their life from another world even if your child was in it, all in the name of a protection they didn't even understand.

Harry heard this in the same detached way he had read it the first time in the Dursleys house. While all straight forward advice, he couldn't feel any real fear, or safety, or whatever that pamphlet was suppose to impress upon him. With no one in his life at the time and only a bitter reminder of something he no longer had an option for in a secure home, he'd cast it aside after only briefly scanning the information.

In here felt no better, only a bitter reminder of something he hadn't even been able to dream about at the time.

Lily watched his mood continue to spiral down, and clinging to anything to keep his mind in here she asked, "Harry, whose nickname did you hear first?"

Distracted by the odd question, he looked over at her but easily cast his mind back to the first conversation he'd heard with the four of them. "Er, Padfoot. Him and Remus were snipping while

you two were talking to me." It worked at once, he smiled again. At the time the soft brush of warmth for hearing those names, seeing these faces and voices again had all been far too muddled

with everything else going on. Now he could look back on that moment with a clarity he never would have believed possible.

"Works as well as any other security question we could ask," James chuckled for his wife. He knew she was doing it to keep him involved in the here and now, but it was rather a mute point

considering they couldn't leave the premises for the time being.

"What about yours?" Harry asked curiously.

"We each have one for each other," Lily began happily, though Sirius cut her off in mock outrage-

"It would defeat the point of sharing them though!"

Lily rolled her eyes while Sirius grinned at Harry who was laughing just a bit at his godfathers antics again. He honestly would have told Harry if he'd asked again, but now he was waiting

patiently for Sirius to keep going so he knew he could bring this up later.

Sirius scrutinized that, thought again about the description of the handwriting, and said in a flat, cold voice, "Dumbledore eh?"

Harry uneasily nodded his agreement, tense and waiting now for a new row of insults to come the headmasters way. With everything else that had gone on that night, Harry just had not been able to

hold onto the same anger of blaming what had happened to Sirius on anyone but him. He knew they disagreed, they blamed the leader of the Order as much as Snape for trying to insist Sirius stay shut up, for not telling everything to him and Harry in the first place.

To his immense relief though, Sirius kept going without further comment. Whatever they were chewing on in regards to this, there was just no point shooting it at anyone in here, when their real

target was still at Hogwarts and waiting for all of this to finish.

"Sounds, fun," James struggled to say with some lightheartedness. He'd admit he was curious what Dumbledore was up to, but already this wasn't starting off well Dumbledore was clearly using Harry for something. Again.

"Hey, he's actually the one escorting you out of that place though!" Sirius did say cheerfully. "I think some good finally came of something, and he's not trying to keep you there all summer!"

"For once," Lily grumbled. It had taken the man six years what the Weasleys had done for him in his second, but she supposed she'd have to take what she could get here.

"I can't imagine why he wouldn't," Remus muttered, "it's not as if he's disappointed him lately or anything."

Sirius gave him a sideways look for that, but remarkably held his tongue and instead kept himself going rather than forcing Moony to address that right now.

"Miracles happen," Lily drawled.

"No, no, the miracle would be if he hadn't had to go back at all," Sirius happily corrected.

"I take what I can get," she snapped.

"I like that you listed trap last," James nodded, "obviously it's the least concerning option."

"Technically a trick and a joke are the same thing, so it was only fifty fifty," Sirius said fairly.

"Don't be so crude Padfoot," James wagged his finger at him. "Undermining the intricacies between a prank, a ploy, a ruse-"

"Keep going, or he will for an hour," Remus grumbled while Harry and Lily watched with honest fascination to see how long he could go.

Sirius took their distraction to hiss at him, "if you don't lighten up I'm going to use Lumos Maximus on what little of your brain is left."

Remus just raised a brow, unimpressed, while Sirius let Prongs keep going until he started making up words just to prove his point.

"The magic of timing," Lily giggled. Didn't need to worry about traffic when you could apparate.

"Can't forget the snack for the road!" Sirius laughed outright.

"Sirius, you're just describing the way you pack, so I don't know what you find so funny," James snickered along as well.

"I can admit to my flaws, if I had any. This is much faster than whatever that nonsense folding is," Sirius stated with his nose in the air.

"Darn, and here I was hoping the hour would have them in bed," Lily grumbled.

No one disagreed with her. It was finally happening, someone even closer to Harry than Mr. Weasley was on the premises, could give these Dursleys a piece of their mind...and the stale taste

in their mouth it was anyone but Sirius would linger until they got out.

Remus couldn't help an involuntary snort at that. This could be more than they'd initially thought for this reaction alone. Lets see Vernon try to stand his ground against Dumbledore. The only

person this could be funnier for was Voldemort himself, and that led to far more complications than payback, so this was honestly the better option.

"A feeling I wish you'd have more," James sighed, that was perfectly reminiscent of how it felt to pull off a prank.

Harry flinched, though not for the reminder of that. He just hated watching the expressions it caused in those around him, that terrifying murderous look as they recalled why exactly this was. He still wished they'd never found out about that, but instead he forced himself not to rub at his neck and just told, "to be fair, most any person learns that after the first five seconds."

The joke gave Sirius a surprised snicker at least, though his voice was no less venomously laced as he kept going.

"It is a sight to behold," James grudgingly tried for a laugh at these circumstances.

"Or just rude, but take your pick," Lily sniffed.

"Of all the things to notice while dumping a child on a front porch, the flowers would stick out!" Sirius harshly snapped, making even himself wince for a comment no one needed reminding of.

"If it were permanent I may even start to like him again," Remus grumbled.

"I'd say a combination of both, but that implies far more sense than those three could put together," Lily snipped.

"Considering he can't see eye to eye with anything more than the deranged female version of himself he calls a sister, this isn't surprising," James agreed.

"And he even blatantly contradicts himself, again." Sirius huffed, wishing he'd kept a tally of how many times he'd done so, but at this point it would be redundant, he didn't need more reason to hate this idiot.

Sirius couldn't help it this time and full out laughed. He knew his friends resented Dumbledore for the way he'd treated Harry, and himself, last year, but even while being an arrogant old man he'd done something only Moody had previously done, shut up Vernon!

"He didn't introduce himself to Vernon," James pointed out with mischief finally lighting his eyes again. He couldn't believe Dumbledore and the Dursleys were causing it, but he always had tried to find fun in the bleakest of places. "He'd just stepped over the doorway and told Vernon to shut his trap, not that I'm arguing the point."

"I'm honestly still blasted at that," Lily said harshly. Of the many things wrong with Harry's fifth year, that was at least in the top five.

"No," James said flatly, honestly he wouldn't be doing any such thing to Dumbledore right now. He had far to many things needing to be shouted for a place like his living room.

"A conversation starter at least," Sirius' smile grew as he did wonder why Dumbledore was choosing to linger and make a show of this.

"Catch up with the Order?" Lily demanded, this being the only thing they could think of, and not at all missing the fact that if this were true, something had come of last year if Dumbledore was really, finally, going to be so open with him. They wouldn't deny they'd prefer it to be done anywhere but there, but they'd take what they could get right now.

Remus still couldn't help making an agitated face no matter how much he tried to hide it, refusing to admit what he'd been thinking even as the thought lingered in his head. 'A man after my own heart.'

Sirius read all of this with an increasing smile, he wasn't going to deny anymore he was starting to enjoy this. Watching the Dursleys be flicked around their own house, and Harry wasn't even

going to get in trouble for it! The Ministry would have been informed of this going on by Dumbledore himself most likely. His only thought now was how far could they go with this.

Sirius at once felt his nose crinkle up in disgust, but it did nothing to hide the flash of concern. It sounded impossible in his head Dumbledore would get anything resembling an injury, let alone one that would leave some kind of mark.

He looked around in concern when Harry started muttering to himself, never a good sign.

James had already noticed and was already babbling at top speed about how even wizards didn't have a magical cure for everything, though he was confident it wasn't anything the man couldn't

shake off. Even while holding a flare of hate for the man, he seemed able to push that aside instantly to help his son with the worry for that same person. Harry in no way looked convinced,

but smiled anyways for the attempt even if his eyes lingered with that fear.

"Oh, well apparently we still haven't quite gotten over that nasty habit of not explaining everything," James snapped.

Lily sighed, not arguing the point aloud, but thought her husband was just looking to pick a fight now. Not every aspect of Dumbledore's life, such as injuries, were of their concern.

"Evidence used to suggest honesty was your strongest point, but that was foolish as well," Remus muttered.

Lily made a little face at her son drinking, though sixteen wasn't an unreasonable age, for a moment she almost wished her biggest concern was her child acting like a teenager and slipping into the liquor cabinet from time to time.

"As you well should, Rosmerta can make a man go broke buying that from her," Sirius grinned.

"Trust him, he's tried," Remus rolled his eyes.

"You certainly don't try to stop me," Sirius challenged, his eyes gleaming at finally getting a normal response from Moony.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I did, considering how often I nick a glass," he shrugged without remorse.

"Aha! You admit it!" Sirius cheered with triumph.

"I never denied it, you just never asked," Remus huffed. Sirius frowned at him now, his moment of fun clearly having passed as quickly as it had come for Remus was refusing to play along

anymore, so Sirius kept going with his own little huffs.

At least that got a collective snort of laughters, all of them having imagined hitting them upside the head with something far heavier than a drink, but it was a start.

"At least someone is," Sirius said goodnaturedly.

Then Sirius felt like his throat had been clogged shut and he couldn't remember how to breath for it. This was the opposite of what he was going for, more depressing reminders! Even he couldn't find a way to put a spin on this to make it in any way funny!

Then what he'd said really ran through his head, and he did release a childishly rude giggle.

Lily quickly brushed her hair out of her face, cleared her throat loudly while she shifted next to James, purposely brushing against him to keep his attention while snipping at him, "just what was so funny about that?"

"My inheritance, my mums precious Black house and heirlooms, all going to a halfblood. The only thing to make it better would be giving it all to Moony, or you Lils."

Lily rolled her eyes even as she'd expected the answer, while Harry shook his stinging eyes and forced them to focus back in confusion of that. Why hadn't anything been left to Remus? Then he really considered this, and recalled some earlier statements from them how Remus wasn't even supposed to be here right now, nor allowed to adopt Harry, or any child. Was it really possible

werewolves were so forced outside their own laws they weren't even allowed such a thing as possessions left by the dead? After all he'd heard, Harry believed it.

James still couldn't bring himself to join in this, he couldn't look at Sirius or anyone or he'd break down again for this future hanging over his brothers life. Not to mention Dumbledore nor anyone had ever said what became of his things. The vault of gold Harry had now was not the only thing in the Potters line, was it really too much to ask who now owned his parents house? This one? Aside from the cloak, Harry still had more from Sirius than him, and even when they were in the same boat now, or well, afterlife, Sirius was still managing to give more to him.

Sirius didn't press the issue onto anyone else, but he certainly hoped Harry got to the Weasleys soon now, or even another cutaway chapter to anyone else who wouldn't mention him for once!

"Timing," Lily snarled in disgust at anyone so blatantly stating this, as if it hadn't been done enough already today. She didn't know how Sirius had managed to say that with a straight face,

she and James had only gotten through it on constricted confidence it wasn't yet true. He tried to brush right past it like he did all things Vermin, related...or Vernon, same thing.

"I would have given him a one word answer as well, but it wouldn't have been that," James snapped.

"Don't be daft Prongs, the only single word you ever use is for a spell, and even then you flourish those for show," Sirius happily corrected.

James made a face at him and actually looked to give a colorful response back, just for the simple bliss he still could and would hold onto that as long as possible, before Remus snapped, "I'm surprised you two never read a dictionary for all the words you use, but we don't need to hear every one of them now!"

James made an annoyed, slightly confused face at him as if just noticing for the first time what a mood Moony was really in, but Sirius had no want to test it right now when he still had to get

back to something so unpleasant so kept going anyways.

Lily stopped eyeing Remus and went back to the despicable and never ending thoughts for these circumstances going on. Dumbledore himself had admitted last year how aware he was of the situation going on there and still they got more evidence how little he cared!

"That is indeed a problem," Sirius couldn't help making his own disgruntled face at that. "I never wanted Harry stepping back into that place even while I was in it, now I don't want to even think of him being on the same block as it!"

Harry tensed and shifted with unease for this particular comment. Everything in him wanted to agree with Sirius, but at the same time the words wouldn't come out. He never wanted to be near that place again, but the idea saddened him the same as if he was never allowed in this home again. Home...such a strange word choice, he just couldn't imagine it ever applying to such a grim house, and was sure it was simply his mind slipping up with something else.

"Actually, I take it back," Sirius said at once, his eyes narrowing maliciously. "If giving it to Harry in any way leads to Vernon stepping in and never stepping back out, I'll arrange this myself-" he stopped with a hiss of pain and glared at Moony.

"Do I need to point out why that was in poor taste," he hissed for his ear while the other three winced and pretended like they hadn't heard him anyways.

"Is this what's got you so round the bind? I'm not going to stop saying whatever I please thank you."

When Remus just made a face and turned away muttering about nonsense, Sirius realized he hadn't guessed right and kept going without almost anyone noticing for a moment, which was

lucky with the next few lines.

"Of course the only good that place has ever got would be taken away," he muttered purely for himself.

That got a surprised snicker out of everyone, leaving at least Sirius pleased one thing could still make them smile during all this constant black depression.

"I'm almost saddened he knows the place so well," James said in disgust.

"Would be a touch more fitting than it ever was on me," Sirius shrugged without any real care.

"The only thing she should have is a cell, not anything you once did." Harry snapped at once.

Sirius eyed him but chose not to argue the point, thinking he was far too worked up about it.

Sirius paused to scratch at his ear, but he couldn't really think of one. He supposed there was some blood magic to be worked, he vaguely recalled something of the like going on with house-elf ownership and quarrels about that in the past of who it should go to when the eldest chose otherwise. However, the very idea of Harry drawing blood for anything only reminded him of more pink, and far from it being worth that waste of space, he skipped on and hoped Dumbledore literally meant the word simple, for once.

"That, is the best mental imagery, I've heard all day." James declared at once.

"Wasn't much contest," Remus rolled his eyes.

The other four gave a lighthearted laugh in agreement anyways, it just wasn't as satisfying as Sirius arriving and cursing them all where they sat, or even Dumbledore doing more than sloshing

some drink on them with cups.

Lily shook her head, politely incredulous at Dumbledore's incredulous politeness.

"Why is it keeping count?" James randomly muttered.

"For the Dursleys benefit I'm sure," Harry gave a slight smile, knowing he'd seen them flinch uneasily every time.

Sirius' face drained of blood, while his mind consumed with a shocking amount of hatred he thought he could only feel for a rat. It seemed to extend to the thing that got him killed as well. The others may blame Dumbledore holding information over Harry's head leading to it, but Sirius couldn't forget the kicker, or what he'd like to be kicking! That no good, infested vermin who'd done everything his whole life to treat him as if he were lower than the filth cleaning their floors!

"Sirius?" Remus spoke softly, the first time this morning he'd really come back to himself as he leaned towards him in concern, grabbing for his shoulder, but Sirius shook it off just as quickly. He no more wanted to linger on that wretch than he did the veil, none of it mattered, least of all the soon to be headless elf.

The twisted expression upon his godfathers face could never be described as a smile, but the pleasure was certainly there Kreacher was getting some use in scaring the Dursleys for a moment at

least.

Lily had half a mind to get up herself and smack Sirius for the tone he was using. She still wished he'd understand he'd never helped the situation by showing nothing but cruelty to his elf, but it would do no more good than blame the way Snape treated Harry on his godfather. The elf was his own actions and was as responsible for them as the Potions teacher was for abusing his students. She like the others wished more than anything Sirius would release the elf now and avoid all future problems with this.

Harry rubbed painfully at his ear, Sirius shouting that with increasing volume was starting to hurt, so he shot a question that occurred to him instead. "How was Dumbledore keeping him away? If Elf's have their own magic and can apparete, or I assume disapparate from wherever they want."

"Oh there are still ways of blocking them," Sirius viciously explained, and Harry instantly regretted asking as it only seemed to fuel his desire to be stamping on the elves head right now. "Magical blockers, outsmarting the little blighter which isn't hard, Merlin just knocking him unconscious or poisoning him or-"

"Alright Sirius," Lily snapped, "I don't need to hear the entire list!"

He scowled at her but kept going simply because he actually didn't want to linger on all the things he'd considered doing in his past which were suddenly a far more real threat to that things life.

"Responsibility isn't the right word," James snapped. "Just tell him not to set foot outside that place again until his dying day, which hopefully will come soon enough anyways! Problem

solved, you never have to see the scum again."

Sirius' satisfied little smirk was the closest thing he was going to get to congratulating Harry for that right now, he certainly wouldn't have been so kind with this test.

"Well, we can no longer say Sirius doesn't think ahead," Remus tried in vain for a joking tone even if his face was too pale to pull it off.

Sirius did give him a real smile for the attempt anyways even as he mock pouted for the jab.

"Malfoy didn't keep Dobby on his heels," Sirius rolled his eyes for Harry's random question.

"I certainly didn't want him at the Dursleys place, as if I needed another reason to loath it," Harry reminded, thinking more along the lines Kreacher would have to relocate to wherever he called home, no matter how loosely.

Sirius nodded that made it a fair question then.

"Yes, because there's not enough slave labor going on in there, another was really needed," Lily couldn't help but scoff at that, honestly thinking that's more what Hermione would say so felt like somebody should.

Harry however frowned and demanded, "Dumbledore couldn't have suggested that for Sirius? Have him out of the house to begin with?"*

Sirius opened, then closed his mouth. It wasn't ideal, and still left the house-elf open to much vulnerability without someone keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't spread something he

wasn't supposed to, but if this had been done at the beginning there would have been little to nothing to start with! He had no good answer for Harry, none of them did.

"You didn't even order him not to seek out Bellatrix, or otherwise do much of anything," Sirius frowned in unease at once. "You're leaving that thing far to loose after what you now know he can do."

Harry winced at this overlap, but Lily pacified, "I'm sure whatever Dumbledore was doing before to keep him away from Bellatrix he's continuing now. It may not be permanent and he'd have Harry go back and enforce it later, but it worked for a fortnight, it should last them a while longer."

Sirius was honestly just disappointed Harry hadn't clothed the thing and be done with it, but as that would only circle them back to the problem with the Order he chose to let it all go instead and hopefully move on.

Here he actually sobered, for the first time realizing he'd had something in his care. It was as if someone were telling him what was being done to his owl Buggle when he went to Azkaban.

He'd somehow grown distantly fond of Buckbeak and he'd never even met him yet.

He perked up all over again, a lighthearted chuckle escaping a throat he wouldn't have thought possible a moment ago. At least Hagrid got something out of this!

"I am wondering now why that wasn't done anyways," James ruffled up his hair at such a simple explanation. "It's not like the Ministry was going to swing back by and accuse him of having the

same hippogriff that had gotten away so many years ago."

"I'm sure I kept him around for a quick get away," Sirius shrugged, not liking the idea of how long he probably went without a wand on the run, and had probably still been afraid of being unable to apparete so Buckbeak was just an extra security for it at the time.

"I'm sure that makes him completely invisible to them," Lily couldn't help a giggle.

"That means yes, I just have to finish up one or two things," Sirius lightly interpreted.

"Like the rest of it," James snorted.

"What does that have to do with anything?" James asked. He'd just thought Petunia had completely forgotten how old Harry was, which was honestly a likely answer.

"Muggles are considered of age at eighteen," Lily shrugged.

James looked baffled at what he saw as a random number but didn't press her for more.

"I would to," Sirius nodded.

"Honestly, a year is so preposterous?" Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius made an agitated noise at just how casually that was said.

Sirius finished through gritted teeth, the hate curling tight in his chest never having left since the moment he'd heard that and still somehow convinced if they could just fix that one thing it would all be worth it!

James twisted violently in his seat for the reminder, his will prepared to launch him back at that door right then to continue retribution for that, but this time Harry was there, more sure of himself than ever to keep them close to him while he still could. He scooted close to his dad and nudged him with a small smile he didn't really feel, but it worked. For all the reminder it was that had happened to Harry, looking at him was just as much a reminder he shouldn't leave him now.

Lily scoffed in more disgusted disbelief than she would have thought possible. She really just couldn't believe anyone was so daft before she was forcefully hearing about them.

"Yes, because that was the accusation you should defend," Remus snarled none to quietly even if he did try to keep that one under his breath.

Lily was already fuming by the time Sirius got to that, and couldn't stop herself all but shouting, "Ask? Since when has he had to ask before? He's been forced back whether he wanted it or not! If you hadn't told him they'd have no reason to think otherwise until he was eighteen and could finally kick him out themselves!"

Harry did the same for her, wrapping a gentle arm around her in a hug. She merely patted his arm but refused to really let herself be comforted while this monster of a sister was permitted to act dumb about this.

James had agreed with every word, and wanted more than anything to add on this magic protecting Harry seemed more confusing the more he heard of it. Why would the protection end when he turned of age? Couldn't it simply be reset so long as he was living with Petunia he would remain safe? Not that he in any way wanted that, but if Dumbledore were there the moment it happened and reset it up again, his son would remain safer for just that little bit longer until they came up with a true plan to rid Voldemort once and for all. Apparently though it just vanished

once he was an adult, which wasn't unbelievable as the age broke many spells upon one such as the trace, but he had more questions about this that no one was around to give an answer to.

"Honestly the fact that he even has brain cells he hasn't eaten is the miracle," Remus said dryly.

So was Lily still, though the comparison between the two had never been less obvious.

Harry cocked his head to the side with a nasty frown in place, though he was sure that was simply because he was wishing it had happened again and it was likely Dumbledore had simply never

gone back.

Sirius did make a little 'pfft' noise, erasing some tension back in the room as he not so subtly laughed at how little anyone cared about that.

He finished with a greatly attempted curious tone, but even he couldn't deny he wasn't looking forward to whatever he was passing along to Harry. Dumbledore's idea of an adventure very

likely wasn't the same as theirs.

HPHPHPHP

Random note, I keep wanting to have James call Harry buckaroo. I've been fighting off this compulsion for ages and even catch myself doing it and deleting it in a few drafts, but you all

know for a fact if this had been based in America Harry absolutely would have been called that! Or is that just a Southern thing...

*I feel like there were a bunch of points where characters just casually drop ideas that could have done so much good in the last book but are never mentioned again!

**Why didn't Sirius just use polyjuice potion, Transfiguration, or any number of things to leave Grimmauld place at his leisure, or go adopt Harry, or anything? I never brought it up in fic

because I don't have a good answer. Hell, they just gave Buckbeak a new name and no one ever bats an eye. All Sirius would have to do was pick a new name, change his hair color and make his nose a little longer and so long as he didn't do anything to draw attention to himself again, I sincerely doubt anyone would have given it notice ever again. I still don't get why he didn't go to school with Harry last year as Padfoot. There was almost no reason for him to be locked in that

house except a headcanon I have that will be revealed in the seventh book, but that's at the end, and this was on my mind now, so please discuss!


	4. HORACE SLUGHORN

Harry fidgeted with the first page of his chapter. The idea should have been thrilling, taking off with Dumbledore on an adventure. Perhaps he was finally, truly being involved, instead of being the sideshow of his own life as most previous years had felt. He just couldn't make himself get into that mood. The atmosphere around him was still heavy with the Dursleys and now Dumbledore featuring in their thoughts, and though Harry really didn't feel any fear for anything to come with this particular endeavor, there still was something of him and Dumbledore traveling off together that put him greatly ill at ease.

He pushed that aside and determined to keep at least a calm attitude for now when there was nothing to really fear, he was sure that would come up later with the way his life went.

Sirius nodded with agreement to that. The first time seeing their headmaster outside of school had been quite mind boggling, and they hadn't even been attending regular Order meetings yet.

Harry couldn't feel as much shame for that now without his headmasters calm face to look at, he was still exceptionally pale from remembering it so vividly. No one else looked any better, their first hand experience with Harry in that state still fresh in this room as Remus shifted and refused to look at anyone and Harry only fidgeted more guilty than ever.

"Lucky him," Remus muttered purely for himself, fighting back the urge to rub at his face where Harry had clocked him in his temper during that same time.

"Thought?" Sirius caught hold of the mood and threw it out the window, to replace it with annoyance at launching into a snide comment for something so miniscule Harry had said, but it

was still better than that heavy feeling everyone else knew. "Harry, you had a whole bloody trial about it last year, you more than think it's not allowed."

"How do I know they didn't change the rules with everything else going on?" He said back blandly, but there was the smallest smile on his face as he did so for snipping back at his godfather again.

"I at least admire his optimism, if not his confidence," Lily sighed.

James frowned with a heavy shake to his head, remembering at one time he'd thought that really had been an adequate answer. He no longer felt so sure, and it left his only child's future feeling

more perilous than ever even though he had lived through it.

Harry was grateful he'd already experienced that one under such circumstances he hadn't been able to linger on that feeling. Even remembering it now caused a bit of claustrophobia he didn't

even have.

"Always do love your descriptions," James chuckled.

Lily shivered at the idea of her son splinching himself, even if he did have Dumbledore with him there to sort it out.

"Honestly, I don't blame you," Sirius agreed.

Sirius normally would have loved to laugh at Harry clearly trying to resist the impulse to do the same in here, but he was too invested watching him carefully for that answer. Harry had been left in a very dangerous position for more reasons than just him leaving his life, Voldemort was now aware of this connection. Just because it hadn't worked once didn't mean it couldn't again, and they all felt like a glass on the edge of the table, ready to fall the moment they weren't looking.

"Enjoying is the wrong word," Harry interrupted none so quietly.

"Well I'm glad he's pleased," James snapped, fighting back the temptation to hold Sirius and Harry as close to him as he could. "That doesn't get rid of the original problem, what if he decides to do it again!"

Seeing the clear worry at this eating away at everyone in front of him, Harry dug deep, but instead of a memory he couldn't remember, the slow surfacing thoughts of those two weeks. That calm, detached way he'd been forced to feel in the confines of the Dursleys house, and he pushed to put that back up in here, a space he'd never tried to put himself in before away from this family.

"I won't fall for the same mistake twice."

James looked to him in surprise for the tone, they all did, but at first glance it looked like he was really trying to assure them this didn't happen at all, so he got some honest attempts at smiles for a moment and quickly kept going before they could linger on this any longer.

"I do love how long it took him to ask that," Remus snorted softly.

"Never heard of it," James said, his curiosity starting to win over agitation of all this and wondering more every moment what Dumbledore was up to instead of focusing on it being with

Dumbledore.

"Because that's worked out so well the last few times," Remus said deadpan.

"Would you rather another Ministry appointee?" Sirius challenged.

Remus made the appropriate face for the suggestion, but Harry honestly didn't blame Remus for the initial comment, he'd been thinking the same thing when Remus had said it.

"I can't imagine we're much going to like the person if arriving with the famous Harry Potter means anything," Lily rolled her eyes at once in contempt for using her son like this.

James went cross eyed in his attempt not to laugh in pain at his child not knowing something ten years prior already.

"About the only thing you ever retain that she tells you," Sirius said with a strained smile, no one really wanted to go back thinking to her anymore than Dumbledore right now.

James mock yawned at the politics coming into play, and Harry decided to help him out a bit by asking, "even if we couldn't apparate into his house, why were we still so far away?"

"I think that's Dumbledore's thing to be honest," Lily gave a careless shrug. "The man seems to enjoy his strolls, he's been known to appear miles outside of where he's going to end up just for a nice walk."

Harry chuckled lightly, that was easy enough to imagine.

"Honestly Harry," Sirius pouted, "the one interesting bit about that!"

Harry just rolled his eyes at him, refusing to again remind he still could only envision the man as his headmaster more than those around him clearly saw him more of an openly approachable...well he wasn't sure anymore.

This caught all attention at once, the injury maybe even more severe than they'd first realized if it hurt so much as just moving it. His wand arm at that! What protection he'd have for Harry out in the open suddenly seemed even more feeble...Harry wouldn't let them keep worrying though, continuing on stoutly without a trace of anything but that same simple curiosity. If he felt anything else right now he wasn't sure what would come of it.

"Right," Remus drew the word out with more sardonicness than Sirius had ever heard when he'd spoken of the man, and he turned to full on look him, seeing right past the snippy comment to

Remus' foul mood.

Remus was pretending no such thing was going on, and Harry was clearly distracted to notice the other two, at least giving them the hope Dumbledore did explain to Harry at some point.

Dumbledore concluded Harry hadn't found them very helpful, as he had not been asked about his favorite flavor of jam upon arrival to discover an impostor Dumbledore.

"He didn't know that to begin with," James snorted. "There's no point in a security question if you've no hope of actually knowing the answer."

"What should he have asked him?" Lily poked fun at him.

"What did I see in the Mirror of Erised," Harry quietly supplied. Quietly enough that he hoped they hadn't heard the slip of his tongue and kept going just a bit louder.

"Would you really?" Sirius chuckled.

"Someone must have checked Moody's to pass as him for so long," Remus snipped.

Sirius scowled at him, he hoped Moony didn't expect to get away with making snide comments towards Dumbledore the rest of the time here and really think they wouldn't notice.

As if Harry had wanted more of an explanation!

"Well that's encouraging," Lily squeaked.

"Run." James said at once with such force Harry nearly got to his feet to do just that.

"Dad," Harry tried to protest, but James wouldn't hear it. "He should have apparated you out of there already!"

Harry wasn't going to argue the point, just went back to a memory he still felt nothing bad for.

Harry felt more than saw those around him tense and more furious than ever bringing him into this instead, but he wouldn't look up long enough to let them vent about it. He had a really funny

feeling about this place, leaning more towards curiosity than fear as he should have felt, which his mind certainly remembered but he just couldn't seem to capture now.

With every description Harry read he knew his family was envisioning the same as him, a battle of the most horrid nature, a family ripped apart, another orphan left dead because of a fight only the good seemed to lose. He would not let them dwell on these thoughts though, he refused! Swallowing hard, he kept himself going instead of thinking a moment longer.

Lily made a high pitched noise of frustration. She'd long since recognized her boy wasn't her baby anymore, by the age of sixteen he'd seen far to much death. That didn't mean Dumbledore needed to keep introducing more! Where was Molly when Lily actually wanted her around?

'No sign doesn't mean anything,' Sirius couldn't stop the jittery thought edging in, but refused to speak that one aloud.

Harry couldn't help but startle hard at reading that, and his was the smallest compared to the others. Who expected a chair to do that, even a magical one?!

Lily mouthed the name Horace again, quite certain she was imagining this all wrong while the boys still looked so tossed from such a drastic sudden change they didn't seem to be taking in an actual word.

"Slughorn!" Sirius yelped like he'd been kicked in the shin.

"Well I um, didn't see that one coming," James looked very close to being sick, still so torn from worry at what Harry could have been in now mixed with that shock of an old school teacher

popping out of quite literally nowhere.

Remus suddenly burst out laughing, hard, and for the first time all morning everyone joined in. The Marauders in particular had liked Slughorn the least of all their teachers, though for no good reasons. He'd never persecuted Remus for his werewolf status, none had honestly, but they'd also never quite shaken the feeling he got uneasy around him. He'd constantly hounded Sirius and James to join his Slug Club, and the only one of them who'd ever shown any skill in his class was so often out shined by Snivellus and Evans anyways that he'd only been another student.

Yet considering all they had been dealing with regarding Harry's potions teacher, this was an absolute dream come true!

"I don't get it," Harry looked around at them, all to clear he was missing something.

"That's Slughorn, our old Potions teacher-" Lily hardly got the words out around a brilliant smile before Sirius screeched so loud he nearly took all of their ears off at once, "so does that mean Snape left!"

"I'd bloody hope so," James agreed adamantly, crossing every one of his fingers and several of his toes. This fact alone would make this entire year better than any other.

"But why would he?" Lily muttered, not disagreeing it would be a nice change to not loath one of Harry's classes for his treatment in it, but clearly alone in worrying why the change of

circumstances. Certainly Snape in his own previous chapter had given no indication there was change coming in his status at Hogwarts.

"Who cares," all four boys said at once. They just couldn't care about anything else right now, finally some good news!

"Why was he though?" Lily insisted popping holes in their jubilation to keep focus. "Just what was his ploy in faking something so terrible?"

James ruffled his hair as he forced his mind to think about it, rather than focusing on the much more fun mental image of Snape getting sacked. "Ah, Dumbledore mentioned he was asking him

to come out of retirement. We don't actually know what made him go into retirement though."

"I can't imagine Death Eaters threatening Slughhorn," Sirius rolled his eyes heavily at this.

"It is rather convenient timing Snape got the position just as he 'left' Death Eater ranks," Remus pointed out with a frown.

"Stop," Lily snapped before any more accusations could be thrown around. "If you're not going to offer anything more helpful than spiteful comments won't do any good." She finished with a

haughty look at Remus who looked right back with one of his own.

For a moment it actually looked like Remus was going to argue the point, despite his friends looking at him like he'd grown a second head. If anyone would have agreed with Lily about

Snape's status they would have accused Moony, who would have believed Dumbledore on principle. Despite words from the man himself whose side he was on, it was hard to shake Dumbledore's trust in all this as well, now though this didn't even seem to have crossed Remus' mind.

Harry felt it was better for everyone's health if he ignored the tension snapping right back into the room and kept going.

"Not necessarily," Remus rolled his eyes for that generalization. It was custom yes, but not always the rule. He'd entered one to many houses to know that. Yet another thing Dumbledore got wrong.

"Err, or the knowledge of doing it," James muttered, looking a touch concerned for the skip. They only knew the name of the spell because of a misfortunate laps in luck to his son, but still weren't even aware of more than that, if they could even do it themselves now.

"I still don't get it," Sirius huffed, swiping his hair out of his face only for it to fall right back as he shook his head in dumbfounded disbelief for the display they'd walked in on. "Slughorn must have known that wasn't going to scare off Dumbledore. Why even was he?"

"What are the odds Dumbledore will actually ask? That would actually be helpful," Remus snipped.

Sirius made a face at him but otherwise ignored his mood, hoping it would pass for good sooner rather than later. This seemed less likely the longer Dumbledore stayed in Harry's company.

Harry only looked vaguely curious what you even used dragon blood for, dusty or otherwise, but was long since used to now of the magical world and didn't feel the need to question details. He'd had some past generalizations it could be useful, that was good enough.

They hadn't any real doubts before the last name was confirmed, every aspect of this man spoke volumes of their old teacher.

"You think he'd be grateful, Harry got into his clutches earlier than the train," Sirius said blandly, Harry giving him a sideways look for that odd comment.

"Err," Harry uttered aloud when no one in here seemed remotely surprised by this.

"Oh, Slughorn's going to be all kinds of fun for you," James rolled his eyes, clearly thinking this was explanation enough.

Lily clearly knew it wasn't, but honestly wasn't even sure how to explain to Harry her old teachers, tendencies, with the students. No matter how she tried to phrase it in her head, it sounded far more rotten than the ambitious man deserved in keeping connections with the wizarding world. So she kept her silence and gave her son an encouraging smile, telling him, "you'll understand in a few moments I'm sure."

Harry shrugged, deciding to take this in stride, it was better than seeing them worry about his safety anyways.

Sirius at least snickered in appreciation Dumbledore never let these details get past him, just the big things.

Lily frowned with some honest sympathy, and agreement. If he wanted to remain in retirement she didn't even blame him, she just wished he would come back purely for the fact Harry would have a good Potions class for one year!

"Nobody said Slughorn isn't that as well," James smirked.

Sirius would never resist bursting out with laughter at such a play on words.

Harry's breath caught so hard he looked for a moment like he was choking on something. James reached over and patted him comfortingly. Only all of Harry's combined practice not looking into such a feeling saved him now, but it did not erase the feeling deep within him that only the diary had caused before. That wasn't quite right though...hadn't there been something else, in Sirius' house? It was more than that though, looking around at the four of them, he was so absolutely sure of something to do with the stone in that ring-

He was quite glad his train of thought was interrupted by the man himself, Sirius making a funny little face and asking, "since when did that man wear jewelry?"

Remus was so surprised by the comment, he seemed to forget just for a moment his attitude and reminded Sirius, "you once spent a whole semester going on about getting a nose ring, and only

bailed on doing it because Baily got one over Easter break and you, I quote, didn't want anyone to think you were copying him."

Sirius tried to make a face at him, but he was smiling softly at finally getting a normal response from Moony, which didn't stop him scoffing, "I'm not laughing the bloke wanted to wear a ring,

I'm saying we've never seen him do it before."

"He's always been prone to gold and plum, so it's really not much of a stretch," James shrugged without much care.

Harry kept frowning at the little passage anyway, quite sure he was missing something, but if the others could just laugh it off he tried to as well.

"See, I'm not the only one who finds it random!" Sirius insisted.

Remus' good mood seemed to vanish as quickly as it had come, now frowning in annoyance Sirius would never let anything go, and refused to add on again.

Remus eyed Lily with a determinedly smug look, and she narrowed her eyes on him without further acknowledgment. That didn't have to mean anything.

"Who moves a piano around once a week?" James seemed baffled. Even the charms that would make moving it around a breeze still seemed far to unneeded for being on the run as he clearly

was.

"I don't know what he's on about," Lily shook her head with an indulgent smile. "He knows as well as I do Dumbledore saved her miserable life there at the end."

"Maybe he didn't hear all of it, like how she wound up in the Forest in the first place," James shrugged without much real care, he'd still toss her in there head first and see her never come out.

All of them did get a snicker out of that, wishing more than ever Slughorn had been around instead of Snape all these years. The man did have a good sense of humor, they'd give him that.

"What you apologizing for?" Sirius demanded. "I'd be up in arms cheering agreement, still considering it honestly."

"I don't like drawing attention to myself," Harry shrugged, as in hindsight it had felt rather rude, though he still couldn't bring himself to regret it.

James still got a proud smirk across his face every time he heard that.

Lily look sobered though, clasping her hands uneasily and whispering, "I can't say I blame you, I wouldn't like much being reminded of us either."

The smile vanished from James like he'd been sucker punched, and his two friends didn't even try to hide their flinch.

Then Lily flushed scarlet in surprise, of all the ways to change the subject!

Harry glanced at her with a warm smile, while the boys rolled their eyes without surprise. That had been no more a secret than her friendship with Snivellus.

Harry looked wildly to her, high hopes in place, and she did not disappoint.

"I think his personal favorite I ever told him was I'd rather slither back into the Muggle world. Of course it was all in good fun, and I often swore he said it just to hear what I'd reply with. Couldn't use the same one twice after all." Despite her initial want of being exactly in Slytherin house, she'd quickly grown fond of the Gryffindor lion and all it represented. Taking as she always did, life in stride and defending her position in her house like any other would.

He burst into surprised laughter while the smile finally lingered on her, she missed the youth of her school years no matter how much she loved her life now. Things had just felt simpler back then.

All five Gryffindors couldn't help a small little smirk for something so ingrained in them.

Sirius choked and looked likely to thump Slughorn for bringing that up, again!

"Lets just bring it all up again! We're on a roll! Shall we start alphabetically, or in the levels of how bloody screwed up it all is!"

"Sirius," James tried to quietly restrain, but his best mate looked likely to go on the warpath and hardly even noticed. Mentioning this how many times in a row was one too many, considering every one of them looked likely to set everyone he cared about now into a fit of their own!

Remus took a careful breath, but finally made the conscious decision to push his feelings aside and look over at him, leaning over and muttering for him alone.

Sirius eyed him for a while, looking more like he was being pestered than anything, but James was far to used to this and Harry was more than grateful to take the opportunity to keep going and try to pretend like he wasn't being strangled with emotion.

Lily made an odd, tittering noise like she was trying to laugh again, that growing harder the more often this kept being thrown in their faces.

Lily had heard this often enough too, she'd had plenty to say about this as well, but Harry was successfully not talking about the mention of his godfather anymore, not being forced to relive his absence once more for just a few brief moments, so she held her tongue for the first time in her life regarding mention of that.

Lily smiled slightly for the mention of him, he'd been a cute little kid, always friendly with everyone, and though only a year younger than her he never seemed to outgrow that baby faced

charm.

Then her smile widened in surprise. She hadn't been keeping up with him after school, but was unsurprised to hear he made something of himself, he'd already been fluent in Gobbledygook in their seventh year of school.

Lily's smile only widened with nostalgia upon each name. While the Slug Club had been formed by Slughorn to create the mass of up and coming talented and promising future of wizards, Lily

had never grown close to many of them, considering Sev had always mocked the meetings more than anything and for a time Lily had laughed along. By the time she'd grown distant from him, many of the members had taken to looking down on her like she once had done to them and had never quite melded into the ranks of being friends. Still, she was ecstatic to hear so many soared up in life, no matter the bitter taint it was she'd never been give the chance to do the same.

The four had honestly been so distracted with an abundance of news for the future of people they'd known in school, they hadn't quite caught up to Harry's line of thinking, but now he said it, that was a good point. It was almost laughable not to picture Slughorn in the center of the room milking with the best.

"I didn't know that was public," James made a face. So much for their secret organization, but he also supposed, it almost made sense for Dumbledore to declare their was a resistance out there

fighting back Voldemort. The public would need something as big as that in the future where the man had come out of nowhere, as opposed to their own time where a sense of quite had been

needed to retain their efforts to fight back without drawing attention.

All five of them turned white for such a callus statement, considering he wasn't exactly wrong with only one being left alive from this room.

"Thanks for the reminder Harry," Sirius honestly tried for a chipper tone again, "it's far more pleasant to think of than being in that house."

"You make a good negotiator," Lily praised with a smile. Harry had instantly grasped the best way to appeal to someone just by one small conversation and a look around his house. "Maybe

you're wasted as an Auror anyways, that's an excellent skill for a politician."

Harry made a face of disagreement, though not quite derision as he knew his mother was trying to invest in the same, it just couldn't hold much good for him with all the horrible ways he'd seen it handled.

"Wonder if he shares those with Hagrid," Harry said softly to himself with a fond smile.

"Harry did it!" James pumped his fist with pure jubilation. He didn't care if he didn't receive a reason for the replacement, this was honestly the best start to his school year since his third year!

"Not at all surprised," Sirius preened with joy for his little godson, even gearing up for the next two years of his school life being hounded into joining an elite club for dunderheads.

All five of them got a giggle out of that, they wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore heard that a dozen times a year from every teacher. Last year in particular, though all the money in the world couldn't have made those teachers want to stay with the toad on premises.

"You really don't realize what you did?" Lily asked in surprise.

Harry merely shrugged, he hadn't intentionally done much of anything except carry on half a conversation while trying not to delve into memories both then and now.

"He's a bit like Alihotsy," Lily did agree. "A fine thing in small doses."

"Something he'll never be able to carry given the size of him," James smirked, not bothering to duck as Lily swatted at him.

"That seems a bit dull," Sirius had never grasped this, he'd always thought Slughorn was one who did all this so that he could be in the limelight more.

"To each their own, at least he's never caused any real harm in doing it," James shrugged.

"Honestly a rather perfect analogy," Lily crinkled up her nose.

Despite the warmth, and miracle of his parents on his sides, a room with a bright cheery fire and the promise of an actual future of his childhood, still Harry could not shake that chill anymore. He couldn't look at any of them, he wouldn't. They'd made their position on that very clear, but what if they were wrong. What if that was Harry's destiny? What would they think of him if he couldn't avoid it? Choosing to ignore the many scoffs and frowns, he tried to reach the end of this in an

almost desperate way.

"Was going inside their broomshed really necessary?" James looked genuinely puzzled at this train of thought. "They're on safe ground, if he has a fear of being overheard he should have done it before going there, and it's not like anyone there's untrustworthy."

They all shrugged for such a random decision, Remus even adding in a scoff and another mutter of Dumbledore trying to make everything about him oh so important. Seemed his moment of

focusing on anything else had ended already, and Sirius shifted uneasily for his friends continued mood.

"The dimensions of one he'd know all to well," James spat.

Harry closed his eyes tight, wishing more than anything right now this book would stop punching him in the heart. He still had trouble distinguishing the Sirius he'd lost and the one in this room, it helped nothing this just kept being brought up!

He wasn't the only one, he knew the others felt sick to their souls at the constant reminder, now more than five times this morning alone! The only thing holding them together was the thought they were now barely clinging to, they had to change this! Now for even more than Harry's sake, and that had been enough already.

Sirius had to swallow carefully to make sure his voice didn't crack when he told, "well he's certainly not wrong on that one."

Harry smiled at once, a warmth pouring up through him he was almost afraid to acknowledge in fear it would vanish as well. It had not escaped his notice he'd spent more time with his godfather these past few days here than he ever had in his own time.

'And then Dumbledore, knowing this, brings it up for a third time!' It took everything Remus had not to shout that at the top of his lungs, he couldn't look at any of them in fear he would, so instead his eyes tracked Lily's cat creeping back into the room, already purring contently as if just finishing his breakfast and looking for a comfortable lap to curl up on.

James still remembered, back to just days ago and wishing for much the same, and hating himself just as much for that wish now more than ever. Like the ancient myth, the prize always dangling

just above their head, never to be reached.

Lily was shivering so much in place she looked like she had the flu. Blame, fault, and any number of things lost on what made this come true, all she knew was she despised this world that had left her son in such a state, and would do anything in her power to change it.

Remus felt like his throat was going to fail him he made such a cracking noise, and in a flash of understanding they realized what was bothering him so much. Not really even Dumbledore, no

matter how much he was trying to push that.

Harry couldn't stop himself glancing at him, a thousand questions he'd never get answered from him. Remus had never in his time done anything to show he cared for Harry on the same level as Sirius had, and did little to suggest that would change. Now that Sirius was back out of the picture, he wouldn't even be that surprised if Lupin faded entirely back out of his life, he certainly had grown closer to Remus now than he ever had in his future, just like Sirius. The idea wouldn't sit right though, he was suddenly certain he'd see his old Professor again. It involved something very important in his life, he was sure of that.

Of course, he well could have ruined that relationship then and now, near constantly taking his anger out on him of late. Hating to go off of one solitary feeling, but refusing to let the awkward silence linger and let him continue to blame himself when he knew he deserved it so much more, he promised, "I don't know how, or why, but we see each other again Remus."

Remus hardly looked convinced, already in his mind it was too little too late, but he couldn't bring himself to look at Harry and call him out for more either. He was only afraid he'd find him simply stretching something along, there was no real truth in it, so missed his and his two friends looks as Harry continued.

He spoke with such power and conviction, it was world bending to the four of them that little infant still asleep in his crib turned into such a powerful wizard, his very being promising right then he held up to this statement. They'd already shown how proud they were of him, how much they believed this themselves from the very first day they'd met him, and couldn't find words to show anymore how much they'd help him along the way in whatever form that took.

Hickory chose that moment to pounce onto Harry, who startled and made a little squealing noise of surprise as the cat landed, ahem, directly in his lap. This still couldn't entirely ruin the pride he'd seen in his father and godfather for a moment, but did accomplish making them all laugh more from shock than anything. The cat didn't care what noise had just been made, he began needing his claws into Harry's thigh and still purring like an engine.

Lily leaned over and scooped her cat away, tisking in his ear and unable to wipe a smile from her own proud face, same as everyone else.

Neither of them would ever let anyone speak for them, so the two also took their chance and assured Harry of how true that was.

"Does being aware of the spiders make them better, or worse?" Sirius muttered.

Remus made a mocking little laugh, muttering snidely, "oh, good to know he trusts a couple of teenagers with information, he did learn his lesson."

Sirius sighed heavily and rubbed at his nose, but restrained himself from agreeing with Remus with great difficulty.

Lily grasped his shoulder in reassurance, trying to convince herself now Harry would have told them given his own chance to. James just scoffed with utter confidence he would have anyways,

Harry trusted his friends the same way he did, and it was honestly a miracle he'd held it in this long.

Sirius made a couple of colorful noises from shock, while Remus just raised a disbelieving brow. "So long as it's not more Occlumency training."

Lily wanted to disagree, they still hadn't a concrete answer on that and not everyone had been begging for that last year. She still hoped other alternatives were being looked into, but for now that one was the only one with even a hint of helping him and she wished it hadn't all been blown off because of Snape.

James ignored the biting comment, honestly because he agreed, and told Harry, "will you ever cease to amaze me? You end up doing all of the most fascinating things without trying."

"You are being ridiculous," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Who wants to spend more time with a teacher? Let alone the headmaster."

"You're technically spending time with a future teacher, spent the past dozen years of your life doing it in fact," Lily pointed out in hopes of giving Remus a chance to smile again.

It did the opposite, he scowled hatefully at her and snapped, "don't pretend any of this is set, or all of it will be!"

All three Potters gave him a sharp look for that tone, while Sirius elbowed him, hard. "Enough Moony, let Harry finish," then he finished with a low mutter at him, "before you say something

you'll really regret."

Remus chose not to answer, and Harry shifted uneasily as he tried to keep going with the last page.

"Informative," James muttered, though this did nothing to lessen their curiosity no matter his vagueness of it now. They certainly had plenty to look forward to this year at least.

"I believe you were told never to come back to that office," Sirius reminded. "Abuse that to it's full might."

"Especially because he doesn't have one anymore," Remus could still smirk for that no matter the petulant tone.

"Or keep extending it to never going near him again, no matter what Dumbledore says," James agreed sharply.

Lily bit at her lip curiously for the correction, surly Dumbledore still wouldn't have corrected him if he weren't a teacher there anymore as a replacement would suggest.

"Hopefully because he's gone," Sirius said with pure wistfulness, though he wished more than anything Dumbledore would have confirmed it right then.

All four of them scoffed at an almost kind description of that while Harry gave a light chuckle.

"But Slughorn doesn't care about that!" James prodded Harry happily until he full blown smiled at this news as well. "You could still take the class, continue your training to be an Auror if you really wanted to!"

"He'd be a bit behind," Sirius rolled his eyes, "considering he never learned anything the previous five years. I swear he only made it through that class through his own studies and sheer dumb luck Snape didn't poison him."

"Dumbledore wouldn't just say oh he couldn't be there this year," Lily sighed, wondering why he must always beat around every single solitary bush.

"Forbidding," Sirius drew the word out uneasily.

"Call backs," James corrected with an uneasy smile.

"What's he to be telling you that," James couldn't help but grouse. "He's been going there for years already without him giving an okay for it."

"Take the extra security and be grateful for the stupid warning," Lily sighed.

Harry finished his chapter, but closed it almost gently, as if he was afraid the slightest noise would set off Remus into taking his head off next.

HPHPHPHP

*Fun random note, Sirius nor Remus ever actually told this to Harry, the two people who you'd think were most likely to.

**It's literally fixing to happen ten chapters later in this book, and still JK couldn't give any hint or even a name drop of Ginny? Just a couple more lines? Harry giving a roll call of her and Mr. Weasley, even the twins wouldn't have been that out there. Sorry, I'll go into this more in a few chapters, just couldn't resist pointing this out.


	5. EXCESS OF PHLEGM

"Remus, can I speak to you." James snapped before Harry could even think of passing the book along, his tone in no way implying that as a question.

Remus got to his feet slowly and dragged his feet to the hallway, he'd been expecting this, and was almost happy at the delay Lily caused.

"James, I can fight my own battles," she snapped at him, eyeing Remus with more worry than anything as he trudged off. Considering everything that had been going on, it hadn't even crossed her mind to hold any of his comments against him.

"I'm not daft enough to think otherwise," James agreed, flicking his eyes to her and smiling for a moment before going for the stairs himself. "I'd still like a word with him."

Sirius followed as well, and Lily and Harry exchanged wary looks before going into the kitchen and prepping an early lunch.

He may have been expecting it, but Remus was no more pleased to be hearing from these two than they clearly were trying to ask him what his problem was. He hadn't meant to make it so

plain there at the end, and bitterly regretted he had such a hard time hiding his emotions around here.

The two exchanged a look before James launched off, "What has gotten into you lately? Picking fights with Lily? Snapping at everyone for the stupidest things? I'm sorry Dumbledore's been

acting like a prat lately with everything going on in Harry's time, but you're driving me nuts Moony!"

Remus almost wanted to smile. Prongs had left him perfectly open to either vent about this lesser, though still pressing agitation on his life, or correct him. He considered the first for several moments before finally stating, "Acting a prat? James the man's gone off the world and left the lot of us to rot! The best part is, he's pretending like he hasn't!"

Sirius watched him steadily beat out his rant, and wished he could say more. He couldn't though. He knew Remus looked up to Dumbledore, his idol. To hear of all the things he'd done would be hardest of all on him, like Harry realizing the true nature of the Marauders last year. The difference was they couldn't Floo Dumbledore, ask him to make them feel better about ruining Harry's life, their life.

When Remus was finally done he slumped back against the wall, looking utterly exhausted, but finally one of the lines creasing his face faded away for getting it all out.

"I know Moony," was all Sirius could think to say.

"You should really chat with Harry," the look on James' face made it perfectly clear of the double in there. Of course he could just mean Remus could go to Harry and talk to him about

Dumbledore, only those two had such a close connection to the Headmaster and could understand each other...or anything else, like they needed to.

Remus didn't disagree, but he was almost afraid to as well. Afraid that he'd say the wrong thing to him, again. Terrified Harry's promise was wrong, that he vanished from that teenagers life, or worse, that he stayed and only made things worse like he was now. He couldn't bring himself to say this to either of the people he most wanted to though, because they had more of a connection to Harry than he'd ever had a claim to. He wouldn't put anything more in between any of them, this was a problem he had to deal with on his own.

They came back in to find Harry and Lily having a lively discussion about Slughorn.

"I mean, who decides to turn down a job by faking being attacked?"

"Obviously Dumbledore wasn't there to take no for an answer, I can see Slughorn doing something so drastic," Lily said peaceably as she stirred a pan on the stove.

Harry was at the table cutting up some vegetables, by hand of all things, and didn't even seem to notice their entrance with his back to the hallway. He was just as busy keeping Hickory from stealing carrots from his pile as he was chatting with his mother.

"How did Dumbledore even know where Slughorn was, he was on the run and hiding from Death Eaters? And of all things, how did Dumbledore know he was a chair? And how did Dumbledore know he was faking all that? He never even told me why we were there at midnight, I wouldn't want someone popping in on me at that time either."

"I can't begin to imagine what goes through either of those men's minds," Lily sighed with exasperation, dumping the sauce into a pot and giving it a sharp crack with her wand, causing

some red wine to start pouring into the mixture as well.

"The least surprising part was that he tore the house apart in less than two minutes, and how he was still trying to put details up as we were walking in-" Harry froze as he went to pass the vegetables to her and saw the others. He didn't even seem sure what expression to make, so settled for an uneasy smile, eyes still flickering to Remus and away just as much as the other two now, guilt heaviest of all he couldn't do anything right by anyone.

"You think he'll ever run out of questions?" Sirius asked as he plopped himself into the chair nearest Harry and kicked his feet back on the table, leaning the chair back.

Easily breaking all tension when Harry gave an already knowing smile, and didn't have to wait for the show his godfather had started.

Lily didn't even glance over her shoulder, merely sent a tripping hex instead and causing him to topple over.

Sirius made several colorful statements as he got himself back to his feet and then harangued Lily about her enforcing such archaic rules. The other three were too busy laughing at them all through the meal to even consider such things as awkwardness, especially as they all got so easily pulled

into it themselves.

They went back to reading with the first bit of pleasantness they had all day, and Remus didn't even consider it as he took the book from Harry to begin. He knew he'd have to confront the larger problem, soon, but for now he'd take the blessing of his friend doing what he always did, giving him more time.

"He didn't even want them there!" James balked. "What in the world was his plan involving till sunrise?"

"I'm, grateful, we didn't have to find out," Lily said slowly and not as if she really meant it, it certainly would have been fascinating to hear of more of his other plans that didn't involve Harry being such an enticing return.

"Tonks is back!" Sirius cheered at once.

"I can't wait to hear what she was up to," Remus agreed with a cheerful smirk, clearly not able to kick that good mood out now that Sirius had put it in here.

"What happened to her pink hair?" James pouted. "I liked that."

"Maybe she just got back from business and hasn't even realized she'd like to change it back," Lily shrugged.

All of them frowned in concern for that. None of them even knew her that well, not even Harry really, but she'd been a little bright spot all of the last book and it was genuinely depressing to hear of even more sobering things going on in this future to someone they so normally would have called cheerful.

"Sympathy for what?" Lily muttered, catching on that word and wishing to pull the girl aside herself and have a friendly chat if she could.

"Oooh, what kind of tiff is going on there," Sirius demanded with a touch more interest than was called for. He'd really liked hearing of Tonks and if Dumbledore was yet another obstacle in another person's life, he'd really start struggling not to start acting like Moony earlier and gripe at this mans every doing.

Sirius let out a righteous bark at once, before jabbing his finger into Moony's face, "aha! You are coming back around, so I don't want to hear another word out of you whining about this!"

"Is this only when I'm in the actual chapter, or just in general you don't want to hear me, because frankly I won't be accommodating either," Remus said with such a stupid smile in place it ruined his sarcasm. He'd honestly convinced himself so much that he'd fall back out of Harry's life without another mention, coming over for a dinner was the best news he'd yet heard.

Harry smiled along with the others for this, but he had a funny feeling in place as he kept that smile. He suddenly wondered if it wasn't Dumbledore, but someone else Tonks was trying to

avoid. Mad-Eye seemed the most likely of those two, being fellow Aurors...right? What could they be fighting about though? Then he pushed the whole thing off, telling himself to stop thinking about things so much, it was likely nothing at all Tonks couldn't work out for herself.

"The apparition spot was out by the broom-shed?" Harry questioned.

"You can have it two separate places, the entrance and the departure," Lily explained.

Lily made a little tisking noise of disapproval, well remembering Harry saying how little he'd eaten before now and it was his own doing that time. At least he hadn't carried that in here.

"Crookshanks is back!" Sirius cheered with just as much enthusiasm as he had for Tonks, at least a cat couldn't depress him!

"Are you going to do that for everyone who turns up at the Burrow?" James asked curiously.

"I might," Sirius sniffed.

"Err," Lily couldn't help but say with some general concern. "I know I brought this up your last Christmas, but does Hermione ever spend time with her parents?"

Harry merely shrugged. He'd just been happy to spend the majority of his holiday with both of his friends, he hadn't questioned it farther than that. Ron had sometimes to ask a question about Muggles in general, but Hermione never really spoke about her parents, well, anymore than he did the Dursleys.

James couldn't help but make a little humming noise, that was one of his favorite dishes.

"I didn't know that," Lily blinked in surprise.

"Kind of fascinating, when you realize how many life spans teachers influence," Remus muttered for himself.

"Shows how good Slughorn's stupid talent really is," James scoffed.

James was the only one not immiedly happy at this, and that was just because he was still making a funny face at having said the same thing as Molly. This was genuinely wonderful news! The

man had deserved it long before now!

"Well I can't really blame her," Lily agreed cheerfully, "I'd be just as bad if my husband even bothered to get a job." James widened his eyes with a look of pure innocence while the couple exchanged a loving smile knowing they would indeed be just as proud, James had certainly not shut up to the only three people who would listen any time she did...well anything.

Sirius did start snickering hysterically at this.

"Much more of a mouthful than his old title," James said in surprise.

"Sounds to me like he's dealing with all kinds of things now, not just Muggle Artifacts, so I'm sure he's more than pleased," Remus agreed.

Sirius let out a low whistle in surprise, and further concurrence.

Sirius had been reading with more interest than anything, up until the very end, where he couldn't help but snicker.

"Honestly, it's as if the man can't have a hobby," James agreed lightly.

"You mean it's not?" Sirius demanded. "What on Earth has my life come to!"

"More spark plugs, apparently, and I can't disagree you need them to the head," Remus smirked.

"Thank you Moony," Sirius nodded along, "that's just what I wanted to hear."

James had to fight very hard against a surprised snort of laughter, and only just managed it from the fear stopping his breath short. What did that mean?! Was it because Harry was there? Surely not!

Lily tried to release a breath like that was somehow reliving news, but it wasn't all that convincing, they all had the same expression in place like they'd been thinking the same thing.

"At least some families practice that," Remus gave a surprised laugh.

"Just because we don't do it at every door doesn't make us lax," Sirius rolled his eyes at him.

Remus failed to point out the Order seemed to disagree after losing another of its members.

Lily couldn't help a surprised giggle at that, finding more each passing time he spoke how much fun Arthur would likely have interrogating a Muggle if he had more of a chance.

All three boys made little ugh noises of entirely not wanting to know that, and Harry even almost went so far as to plug his ears before Sirius just got it done with.

Lily offered a reluctant smile amidst all of the boys muttering how much they hadn't wanted to know that, "well, I'll give the man credit, no Death Eater would likely think to ask such a thing."

"Doesn't mean we wanted to know," Harry stated, as red faced in here as he was then.

"They're not meant for you to know, Arthur doesn't know you're there yet," James reminded.

"Then I'll happily pretend like I never found out," Sirius grumbled before moving on loudly.

"The point of it is to think up questions and answers they wouldn't think to ask in that scenario," Lily wisely endowed to Harry's suddenly uneasy look.

He nodded, but the thought hadn't been what if Mr. Weasley was right, it was the act itself he couldn't shake off. He didn't want to imagine what he would have told someone to save the life of another being tortured, the idea was too horrible to consider even as he forced his mind to ignore the echoing screams from a memory he hoped he was misunderstanding.

"His kids are all apparently asleep, who's he setting an example for?" Sirius snorted.

"And Merlin help those two if Molly answers that around their kids too," James agreed.

"A shame we can't really have something like that," Harry muttered, it would make his Transfiguration classes a lot more smooth he was sure.

Lily scoffed in further disgust of people, depressed this was more news than something she'd had plenty of time fixing herself on her time off.

"They would never," James defended at once. "Even in school they knew when not to mess around."

Lily just rolled her eyes at him. Molly was just being a concerned mother, and Lily could think of several instances where they'd been idiots, and practical idiots.

"Aww," Sirius muttered in guenin disappointment, he was rather enjoying hearing about Arthur's job.

"Why?" Remus asked in concern at once.

"Oh, I meant what's wrong with Ron's room, but that works to," Remus muttered.

All of them beamed at the thought, though unsurprised. This was by far the best thing a Potter had ever invested in!

"Didn't approve," Sirius repeated with an eye roll, finding that far too low brow for her trashing their things and telling them at every opportunity what wasted potential they were.

Lily couldn't help nibbling at her lip again, glancing fearfully at Harry and away with more questions for this poor family that she knew he couldn't answer.

James couldn't help but to start bouncing eagerly in anticipation, he'd been wanting to hear details about the twins room since he'd first heard of Ron's!

"A memorable entrance indeed," Sirius blinked in surprise before they all started snickering.

"It probably is," Remus agreed.

"Aww," Lily cooed, smiling over at their own bright orange screech owl, Click, who more often than not chose to live off of the owl treats than hunt.

"Hopefully not a sign of the rest of this book," James muttered, remembering several nauseating times already from Harry's past.

"I think Ginny realized he was there," Sirius couldn't help but tease, though the tiny little girl fawning over Harry had been replaced with the formidable fifteen year old telling his godson he wasn't leaving without her in that forest in his mind, so the joke held no weight.

"Be fair, Hermione's been known to attack hug him as well," James chuckled while Harry ignored them both.

"Honestly, this really is a kind awakening, you don't want to know how these two have gotten me out of a bed," Remus rolled his eyes at Harry's face, a mix of pleased at his friends again and severe agitation with such an abrupt awakening.

"A much kinder response than I've ever given," Sirius chuckled.

"Just brushing right past he's hardly gone to bed then," Lily shook her head, but found that a relevant enough question she didn't blame Hermione. They hadn't exactly been keeping better

hours around here anyways.

"I can not blame you," Sirius said extra loudly to emphasize he wanted the same.

"That always sounds far more exciting than it turns out to be," Lily shook her head.

"Well he's gotten much better at that picking up on things," James laughed.

"Getting a teacher out of retirement would be top of my list of things I thought you'd be doing to," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Why'd Hermione want him not to ask about that though?" Remus was surprised. "Harry's never not told them what he's been up to.

"Maybe Hermione thinks that's a sensitive topic too," Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's nice to have more foreknowledge than the teenagers for once," Sirius laughed hard at that one.

"Technically we only know they're wrong about their assumption, not who the new Defense teacher is," Remus pointed out.

"Must you ruin all my fun?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"About sums him up as far as I'm concerned," James agreed.

"What is her problem this morning?" Sirius asked in exasperation.

"Harry's interrupting her and Ron's room the past three weeks?" Remus offered under his breath, causing Sirius to both snort and smile innocently, and Remus to hurry on before explaining the

joke. Neither thought Harry would find it funny.

"He's got me there," Sirius sighed, and there used to be a time Slughorn was his least favorite teacher, but Snape had already trumped that, now the man seemed like a blessing after that frosted catnip.

"I find that hard to agree," Lily said at once with a disparaging look at her sons right hand.

"That's certainly a contrast than glowing like the sun upon first meeting you," James smiled slightly, though it was just a bit saddening to hear of this girl's growing up more than he'd got to witness his own son doing so.

"This is just rude, playing the pronoun game right in front of us," Sirius grumbled as this conversation just kept carrying on.

"I'm not sure who they could even be talking about," Remus agreed, "doesn't seem like Molly."

"Certainly not Tonks, who's the only other girl we've seen over there," James agreed, completely baffled.

"Maybe it's still someone new," Lily shrugged as she waved them on.

"Ron joining in on this just made it more interesting," Sirius didn't try very hard to fight off a smirk.

Harry scowled at their collective snorts and grumbled they all thought themselves so smart, he had just woken up!

"They kind of deserved it after your morning," James chuckled.

"Err," most of them muttered, as this cleared up nothing. Harry wasn't being of much help, still blinking spastically as if he had a bright light in his eyes. Sirius though well remembered a girl of this description, and the next line only magnified that expression.

"Oh, it's Fleur!" Remus yelped.

James let out a surprised whistle as this registered, "wow, her and Bill must be getting on really well for her to already be hanging around his house this much."

Lily was still rolling her eyes at Sirius for not just telling them this when he'd realized it.

"Merlin, how many people do they have crammed into that house?" Lily asked with some concern for this declaration.

"Bill and her are likely just there visiting with her, I doubt they're staying there," James shrugged.

"How could he know, he's literally just awoken," Remus reminded, clearly still far more against this than anything.

"She doesn't seem particularly excited for it," Lily noticed, a few things popping to mind.

"Endearing," Sirius snickered.

"Ah, well I was right," James smirked.

"Wonder what's got Molly so wound up about it," Sirius shrugged without much concern.

"Her first baby's starting his own family, I'm sure she's going through all sorts of things," Lily told, eyeing Harry's ring with something very acute to how Molly would be feeling, while unable to stop a pleased little smile of her own for these circumstances.

Lily couldn't help but understand those girls, she hadn't thought much of Fleur either until Harry had gotten to know her a bit better.

"Should I be worried she thinks things are going to be more exciting with him around?" Remus went wide eyed with some genuine concern for that.

"She met Harry when he entered the tournament he shouldn't, I can't blame her," Sirius reminded without any enthusiasm.

"Well I can't say a word," Lily muttered with a gleaming smile. She never would have thought herself the kind to marry right after school and have a family started, and Bill would be about that same age. She wouldn't change her life for anything though, and would of course caution her own child not to do the same.

"I think someone's still got a Veela infatuation," Sirius said wisely.

"Yes. And?" James asked with an unconcerned smirk as he fought the compulsion to go over to his wife just to take her hand.

"Prongs, you are not the example to be setting for anyone," Remus scoffed.

"Oh, and you are?" Sirius challenged.

"You're all idiots, so I don't know what you're comparing," Lily reminded.

"Right," James drew out the word defiantly, Molly had just turned herself into a bit of a hypocrite, again.

They all snorted in surprise, that having been the last thing they'd expect Ginny to call anyone.

"I don't see where she gets off telling Ginny that," Harry said a bit defensively, "she was just bad mouthing Fleur as well."

"Do as I say, not as I do," Sirius shrugged.

"It's the Yule Ball all over again," Remus snickered.

"I do hope Fleur's told Bill about that exciting tale," Sirius agreed.

"Never mind, they're still squabbling, and ignoring the fun side of acting like a married couple," Remus muttered.

"Oh, she wouldn't go that far," Lily disagreed. "She may not approve, and I'm sure she's told Bill as much, but I can't imagine her standing in his way like that."

"I can," James scowled, well remembering her harshness of the twins, and his own best mate last time she'd been around.

"Yeah, I can see it," Sirius grinned.

Harry just laughed, having an odd feeling this was in fact the exact opposite of what was going on, but not quite far off either?

"Oh now that's not fair," Remus frowned for that. "I've much more enjoyed hearing about her than some pretty French girl."

"Got to agree with Moony on that one, she'd be much more fun to have around," Sirius nodded.

"I thought that was when she was at her best," Remus snipped.

"Go for the girl with a sense of humor," James agreed, very purposely looking to his wife who was snickering along.

"Intelligence wasn't a factor for that Harry," Sirius snorted in surprise.

"Plus, she came in last," James agreed.

"Oh stop, the lot of you, we're not having a contest over this," Lily fought to straighten her face and scold.

"Apparently Ginny's nickname was catchier than I first thought," Sirius snickered.

"Do they know something about that?" Lily asked, her concern for this returning at once.

"Let's find out," Sirius agreed.

Sirius blanched in surprised, that had not been the answer he'd been expecting!

"Nah, surely that's not it," James tried to say casually, though the hitch in his voice made that anything but. He couldn't even continue, but looked away from everyone, despising his mind for

reliving those last few moments all over again.

Sirius muttered a bit at Hermione still managing to bring this up before pressing on for the fifth time already about this.

"Food has been known to solve many a problem," Remus agreed while trying to examine his nails and ignoring the ringing in his ears.

"Close enough to the truth," Lily whispered, watching Sirius' face drain of all color for being further reminded of this. He'd probably spent more time laughing about Tonks in here than he ever had with her.

"Yeah, I thought I took the blame for everything," Sirius happily falsified his voice to mock Harry's when trying to say that. For some reason his godson didn't appreciate the attempt.

Hermione reminded she'd been the last one fighting Bellatrix before it happened.

Harry couldn't help making a funny noise at that, though he wasn't sure what it was. Not quite laughter for Hermione's assumption.

"Her what?" They yelped in genuine concern.

"Now I'm really convinced something's wrong, and it's not me," Sirius' frown turned heavier than ever for his poor little cousins health.

"I'm sure that's the first time you've ever said that," Remus tried to playfully snip, but it fell flat. If it wasn't having to hear about Sirius, it was some other travesty happening in this future, and Tonks really was a light they could have used right now.

"I can see it," Lily murmured uneasily. "Magic can have an affect on your state of mind, so I suppose the physical aspects would also be a bit touched."

"Whatever it is, I hope someone's trying to help," Remus huffed, still more worried than anything he wasn't being of any good to the Order even if he was clearly still around in some way.

"No, the conversation can't go on without her!" James dramatically wailed, causing the others a fresh burst of laughter for theatrics at least.

"A sight to behold I'm sure," Sirius forced a chipper mood again as well to go along with Prongs while Harry genuinely gave an affectionate smile for the show.

"A worthy cause," Remus chucked.

"We all know what their last tests were like," Lily agreed with a small smile.

Lily perked up the most for this answer, the others were clearly still far more disgusted he'd even done such a thing.

"Clearly that's not enough for him to admit he was wrong of all things!" Siris snapped.

"When exactly was he supposed to insert that into the conversation? When he was getting socked in the head, or Ron was drooling over Fleur?" James chuckled, though he knew he would have been just as bad if that had been dropped at any time.

"Well they've clearly been having conversations without you again," Sirius pouted.

"Been doing that last year as well, and I'd be happy for them, if it weren't about me," Harry sighed.

"Because it would have been nice to go a whole five minutes without thinking about it," James sighed unhappily, but didn't begrudge Harry getting this out of the way either rather than dwelling on it his own some more.

"It's only polite, you should involve the utensils for all they do," Sirius nodded along while Remus gave him a light smack before he continued him on.

"Not a lot of other prophecies you could be referring to," James muttered agreement.

"Hermione's allowed to interrupt but he's not?" Lily gave a halfhearted giggle.

"Is that really the only part your grasped on?" Lily demanded, wringing her own hands in an effort not to hold her son closer. "You've had experience with at least one other, surely you know

not to take them at such face value!"

Sirius startled a bit, before he burst out laughing. "Well, I guess we know what that," he went back and checked what exactly it was Hermione was holding, "telescope did!"

"The opposite of helped you to see, I like it," James chuckled in agreement.

"Oh, even better!" Remus yelped in surprise, still snickering delightedly at the gag.

No one was bothering with that in here.

"Sure she wouldn't have said that under any other circumstances," Lily snorted.

"It's no wonder the Prophet put this together, apparently everyone just knew this was going to happen," Harry sighed.

"Not if you don't want it to!" James reminded so forcefully Harry had to remind himself not to jump. "You can make your future whatever you want it to be!"

Harry glanced at him then, at all of them, and it really hit him why they were all so against this prophecy. Not because of his destiny being entwined with Voldemort, but because they refused to believe it was so inevitable Harry would be the one to do it. They just wanted him to have his own future, not be forced into this like Voldemort had done to them so many years ago, or so soon from now. He held tight to that knowledge, actually smiling as he promised, "Well, I'm sure you'll see to it it never gets this far."

"Absolutely," Lily agreed with all the confidence in the world.

Sirius had to bite hard at his tongue to convince himself not to tell Harry that didn't have to define him, least of all allow someone else to tell him so! If he chose never to face Voldemort again he'd tear away anyone who tried to stop him.

"As eloquent as ever that one," Remus frowned more for the way he phrased it than disagreeing.

"I wouldn't really think so," Lily tugged at her hair in thought. "Voldemort is one of the most knowledgeable wizards there is, it must be how he's gotten as far as he has in his conquest. Not just anyone can come back from what he did after all, so it should be something more along the lines of other ways to defeat him than outright spells."

"Your idea has merits, but teaching him how to turn those statues into impervious shields wouldn't go awry either," James decided.

Lily sighed lovingly for her son, still as oblivious as he was at eleven. No one had thought this for a second anymore than they'd believed Ron and Hermione would take his cloak back at Fluffy's door. The smile on his face still showed otherwise, if not double more so because of those around him now.

"I think Hermione actually just had kittens," Sirius chuckled at such a reaction.

"To be fair, this is the most important moment of her life," Remus lightly mocked.

"A memorable depiction I shall never forget," James snickered.

"I'd trust her on that," Sirius said a little to knowingly, and Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know when his godfather had tired much the same thing on anyone else.

"I'm guessing Bill wasn't on the end of many of their pranks then," Lily smiled.

"Or he actually does find them funny and can laugh along," James pointed out.

"Those twins really should consider themselves lucky they aren't there for this," Sirius said while still unable to wipe away a smile for this imagined carnage. "We'd have an epic war about the house, considering this is the first time she's fallen victim to them personally."

"It's a miracle it never happened in school," Remus agreed.

"I never had the class, so I don't know what she's on about," Sirius went wide eyed with innocent curiosity.

"Because I missed this," Lily told him blandly while he continued on, high on his own cleverness.

"She O'd everything," James stated as if noticing the weather.

"She can't be entirely perfect, she might have gotten an E in Defense, especially if she's freezed again." Remus said fairly.

"Nah, then we'd know she got Malfoy's," Sirius said brightly.

"Whom I'm sure laughed hysterically first," Lily shook her head affectionately.

"Though I don't think any student has ever failed every single OWL," James properly explained. "You do need to revisit with your head of house to further discuss your career options though, if you've happened to not get a grade that didn't align with your path."

"Or you can have the option to retake it, and have to pay to do so, same as if you needed an OWL grade for a course you didn't take," Remus told.

Harry nodded, as he considered all of this, knowing no grade in the world would get him into a class with Snape again...but maybe Slughorn? He certainly didn't feel very worried about his

future as an Auror still hanging.

"I can see both sides to that," Lily said curiously. "If you wait until your sixth year, then you've an extra year to study for the classes you really want to excel in-"

"But there's no year in between taking two major exams for your life," James happily butted in with the other side.

"Well Fleur always thought her school was better, so I'm sure she'd be happy to rebuttal," Sirius shrugged, not wanting to hear either, just happy he'd never have to take another test again.

Harry was rubbing at his ear but looking a little grey, while the others all lit up with so much excitement to hear this they couldn't even laugh at Hermione's overreaction.

"I'm sure the poor birds have had worse done to them, like being vomited on," Sirius said slyly.

"I regret ever telling you that," Remus grumbled.

Sirius honestly skipped right past all of that nonsense, they already knew that.

"Congratulations!" James cheered while Lily did a little whoop of joy for him. Harry honestly found it hard to believe he'd done so well, much better than he ever would have given himself

credit for in all the classes that mattered.

"Looks like McGonagall's Auror training is going to be completely unneeded, you managed all that yourself!" Sirius bounced happily in place.

"I'm still stunned stupid he got an E in Potions! It's hard to believe he learned anything in that class!" Remus looked struck dumb.

"Gee, thanks," Harry laughed lightly, though he didn't at all disagree.

"Nobody cares about that class anyways," James waved off at once, fighting back the compulsion to scream some more at the mention of that particular exam.

"No surprise there!" Sirius puffed up his chest. "He's been a natural at that from the start!"

"You did extremely well, you should hear that no matter how unsurprising it is," Lily told him gently as well as a rebuke to Sirius, who simply grinned in agreement rather than replying to her.

"Will you tell me what grades you got now?" James quickly asked her, batting his eyes pleadingly.

She just raised her brows at him in disbelief. "What makes you think I remember them all so many years later? I'm not as conceited as you lot, constantly lording over-"

"I'm guessing O in Potions, Herbology, and Charms, and at least an E in everything else," Sirius said loudly around her.

She blushed faintly, and had to take some niggling from Harry before finally admitting, " Well he wasn't wrong about the first three, but I got an A in my Ancient Runes and Transfiguration..."

"And," James happily prompted when it was clear she was refraining from saying something else.

She released a blistering noise before finishing, "and a T in my History of Magic. I was so busy studying for everything else, and it just sort of fell through the cracks there at the end-"

"Is that all?" Harry chuckled. "You did as well as I did Mum."

"Doesn't make it any more fun to remember," she huffed with a gleaming smile.

"Can't wait for your NEWT results now," Sirius said cheerfully before going on.

"Really?" Sirius said in honest surprise. "You'd think he'd have aced some class, I know he'd gotten on just as well in Care of Magical Creatures as Harry, what with his dragon keeper of a

brother giving him some extra knowledge."

"Ron never took his classes to heart though, I'm sure he didn't even try his hardest, like others," Remus said pointedly to Sirius' careless shrug.

"Still on that eh?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to hear it from the lot of you who stopped to recount yours," Lily snipped, "and then demanded mine."

"Maybe she actually didn't get an O in everything," James went wide eyed in concern.

"I think I'll faint from shock," Sirius began fanning himself for a moment.

"Or she's just embarrassed she made such a big deal out of it and actually doesn't want to show off," Remus shook his head.

"Wow," James mouthed theatrically.

"She's actually disappointed in herself," Sirius scratched at his temple for this reaction.

"She did admit Harry's beat her out in previous DA exams, I'm not too surprised about this one," Remus shrugged with an extra, though still tentative, smile at Harry, who returned it at once.

"The proper response!" Sirius burst out laughing.

"I wish Dumbledore had told you what position Slughorn was coming back for now," Lily clucked her tongue sadly for that frown he was easily hiding now at knowing better. "Would save

you a summer of stressing over this."

"At least McGonagall will set him straight at the beginning of the year," James reminded cheerfully.

"Yeah, the irony of that has crossed me several times," James gave a heavy sigh.

"Doesn't make it any less appropriate given how your life's gone," Sirius pointed out.

The four around him made faces at this again being brought up, but now that Harry felt he better understood where they were coming from, he easily brushed past their concern as he happily

watched his mother grab the book to continue.


	6. DRACO'S DETOUR

Sorry, I really did mean to post an extra chapter this week! I got distracted by All in the Family though, and whoops wouldn't you know, editing time went buh-by for this, so I'm thankful I still got it up in time. I'll get an extra one up on Valentine's Day, I'll definitely be back to my regular schedule by then!

HPHPHP

Lily nibbled on her lip for a moment before she could get started. She couldn't help it, everything Snape and Narcissa had talked about still weighed on her mind, but so far Harry's life was going quite well for once. She forced herself to remain focused on that as she began, the smile lingering causing the same in the rest of them.

"That doesn't sound well matched at all," James ruffled his hair in confusion. "From what I heard, three are great, and Hermione has no clue what she's doing on a broom. What's reasonably

matched about that?"

"Remember how Ron tends to get nervous," Harry tried hard to repress a chuckle, and was failing at it. "Well he fumbled a lot of Hermione's throws. He claimed he was going easy on her, but ah," he trailed off with a fond shake of his head, he knew Ron's faces well, and the look he sometimes got when she was the one throwing the play made him, well, throw the play.

"I can't believe you've never gotten sick, going from so little food to so much," Remus muttered, not at all finding it a bad thing.

Lily sighed that her boy was now having to experience the same kind of news they were now, it really had been a blessing they'd barely been able to enjoy it took this long.

She would have normally stopped anyways to smile over at Remus reappearing on Harry's birthday, but for this particular instance she frowned instead and reread that bit. Not only was this the first birthday Remus was in attendance for, Merlin Sirius had never even managed that, there was no mention of him going out of his way to talk to Harry. In fact, the opposite, bringing such news along? She suddenly couldn't help but wonder if he really would abandon himself from Harry's life again. He certainly hadn't gone out of his way to show otherwise yet.

The boys, who had gone bright eyed at once for the news, looked as grim as if Sirius had been brought up again. The last thing they wanted to hear was their last remaining friend suffering even more hardships in life, yet clearly that's all he was getting.

"Aren't you just full of fun information!" Sirius huffed.

"I'd take the cake back," James agreed.

Remus didn't even have it in him to make a face at them, they were entirely right. He wished he could put this away, tell it later when it mattered, prioritize on just having fun, but it wasn't at all hard to imagine the thought wouldn't even cross his mind at this point in the future.

Harry at least tried to offer, "maybe you were telling me then, because you knew Mrs. Weasley or anyone in the Order wouldn't let you later."

Lily still couldn't help but tisk, she didn't find it that relevant, but Remus at least looked cheered at the thought this could be put in any good light.

"I, honestly forgot about him," James blinked in surprise. Considering everything else that had gone on in Harry's fourth year, this guy seemed laughable at best looking back on him.

"How recent is this news? I'm stunned this hadn't happened already," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Oh lookie there, were five for five! Anyone want to play some odds this'll come up every single chapter, now by Moony himself!" James mock cheered to hide his growing histeria of that constantly being brought up.

"Technically he just mentioned Sirius' brother, not-" Harry broke himself off, he couldn't find anything good to say about that.

Sirius couldn't bring himself to say anything on the matter, that would never be something he'd have wanted to learn! He still didn't even know details of why his little brother had done it.

"Bloody tragic future this is, attacking the ice cream," James tried for a smile that didn't at all work.

"I find this far more relevant than Karkaroff," Sirius sighed, though he honestly couldn't blame Molly, they heard enough about this without bringing it up themselves.

Harry rubbed at his temple hard, the harsh thump he felt for that couldn't be anything good, but he must be ridiculous. Why would he know anything more about this than what happened to Florean Fortescue?

"I didn't even know there were other makers in the country," Lily sighed.

"There aren't, that I know of anyways," James agreed. "People will have to travel really far for them, and that's a danger in itself in these times."

"There's Moony, always keeping us on the important information," Sirius grumbled.

Lily had been reading so distracted because of all this, she almost glossed right past this detail.

James would never allow such a thing, the second that news registered he let out a great whoop of joy and jumped clean out of his seat, nearly taking Harry's head with him he'd wrapped him in such a tight hug moments before.

"Yes! This is the best news ever! I haven't been this excited since you were put on the team! I can't believe it! Yes I can, McGonagall knew there wasn't a better choice! I'm amazed you haven't had this spot since your fourth year! Oh I can't wait to hear about-"

Lily and Remus were both massaging their ears in protest as he somehow managed to shout even louder every passing moment, but he looked so jubilant it would feel cruel to tell him to stop.

Sirius wasn't acting any better, laughing so hard he seemed likely to run out of air soon and Harry looked so pleased with himself at their reactions it was like hearing about his first game all over again.

Lily waited patiently for them to run out, scratching Hickory on the chin in the meantime and trying to remember a certain Herbology plant that specialized in ear regrowth, they'd need one before all this was up for more reasons than her husbands happy shouts.

"Oh, I wish you were wearing it now, I know McGonagall had to pry mine away from me-"

"Prongs, if you don't settle down, then we'll never get to actually hear him doing anything with his captaincy. I know I'll never be able to hear properly again anyways, but still," Remus tried to patiently cut in.

"Leave him be Moony, this is the first thing he's had to celebrate in, maybe even since his first year. Since then, everything has been just as depressing as it was an accomplishment for the pup."

"Thanks Sirius," Harry told him with a torn expression of whether he was supposed to be laughing at that one.

Lily still took their momentary distraction as an opportunity to keep going, though James was still so jazzed he honestly looked like he regretted taking his seat for now.

"Because that's the important takeaway from this!" Remus rolled his eyes.

James made a sad little face this position suddenly put his son in, but even that couldn't put a damper on his delighted news and he encouraged Harry not to worry about that until he had to.

"Well after hiding out in a girls bathroom, I really wouldn't put much past him," Sirius smirked.

"Probably best not to be testing his mother anyways," Lily sighed with sympathy for Molly.

"Priorities," James agreed enthusiastically, as if this could get any better!

Remus let out a soft whistle, unable to grasp how worried a parent must be to have that kind of threat in there.

"She's never struck me as the fun type to begin with, that's somehow gotten worse over the years," Sirius sighed.

"Be fair, we saw her laugh...err...back when Fred and George made a joke about the train crashing," Harry finally offered.

Lily smiled sadly for the poor stressed mother, and even more for her sons defense of the woman no matter how much it stung just a bit to hear. She was being ridiculous of course, Harry had every reason to do this as he always would.

"Was I detecting a hint of sarcasm in that?" James asked innocently.

"From me? No, never dear," Lily giggled.

"Really warms my heart an employee of Gringotts got into Harry's vault so easily," Lily muttered.

"I passed him along my key, didn't think to ask why he wanted it though," Harry shrugged without concern.

"Did he really think his older brother was just passing out bags of gold?" James looked baffled at the reaction.

"I'm sure it was an impulse kind of response, like yelling at the top of your lungs about your kid getting a badge," Remus said pointedly.

"No, no, you finish those kinds of sentences!" Sirius protested. "Was it his ear? His bum? Underneath his fingernails? Oh, maybe they jammed it into his-"

"Sirius," Lily protested, squirming uncomfortably at wherever his mind had next lept to and going on extra loud, suddenly grateful their bank had never gone to such extreme measures so far.

"What a perfectly good waste of cereal," James sighed. "You reserve those actions for bowls of cabbage obviously."

Then James snorted in surprise as he eyed his son, telling him, "was it really that funny?"

"Unexpected from the likes of Ginny," he pointed out sheepishly.

"Practice having the house to themselves before the honeymoon," Remus muttered under his breath, casing Sirius to both snicker and scowl at his mate at the same time, him constantly

interrupting his own jokes when he made cracks like that just didn't seem fair.

"Well that was just rude," Lily huffed. "I'm sure Arthur could get them for his own family if he requested it."

"I wouldn't hold my breath," James sighed.

Harry groaned and heavily rolled his eyes, but when he saw the others actually looked a touch relieved at the news he restrained the rest of his mutters about paranoia. Honestly, where was Ron when he needed him.

"I quite like the idea," Sirius smirked. "Get them to do the shopping for you, I bet you could even get some to carry you."

"And drop you on your fat head while they're at it," Lily rolled her eyes.

James couldn't help laughing just a bit at the mental image anyways, picturing his sons thin arm reaching for a book while the massive bodies kept him blocked from sight.

"Certainly not yours specifically," James agreed.

"Least he's honest," Remus chuckled.

"Hagrid's back!" Sirius whooped, and Harry felt like joining in this time.

"He never went anywhere you daft idiot," Remus scowled at this again being shouted right in his ear.

"He wasn't on my mind for a moment, it was horrible!" Sirius insisted, while Remus shoved his face away and pleaded Lily to go on.

Lily started giggling this was of course the first thing Hagrid would talk about. It really was nice to hear about him again.

"Nothing new there," James beamed in agreement, he wouldn't let his cheerful mood be soured by once again remembering everything Hagrid was there for. It was of some consolation Harry hadn't

run up and shared his news of Quidditch Captain with him.

Lily couldn't help her lip puckering a bit with sympathy, knowing his wasn't the only business suffering during this time.

Harry shifted a bit anxiously at this, not at all liking how the place seemed almost shrouded from its once glory. It was all the more depressing to look around and see no one really surprised, he was sure this was much more the Diagon Alley they were used to than the bright one from his memories.

Sirius grumbled uneasily about what he'd like to do to that man, while Remus couldn't help a bitter scoff people would even delude themselves into thinking those would work.

Harry scowled, hand twitching for his wand, though soothed just a bit by the fierce expression he remembered on Ginny's face, making it clear she didn't need an amulet to protect her from

anything.

"Don't see why that would stop you from toppling the lot over," James snapped.

Lily already longed for the cheerful passages about the kids wandering off all on their own to get ice cream and catch each other up on their holidays, rather than completely understanding both sides to those fears.

"Paranoid mother," Sirius shook his head indulgently.

Harry bit his tongue hard to fight back the compulsion to remind Sirius he'd been accused of much the same, but even if he could have spoken the words, it would only be more of a constant

reminder who was missing. The glowering posters of the one who'd taken him away standing out in his mind more than ever making it hard to focus at all.

James ruffled his hair in unease, not having to think hard for the dead silence of a crowded place, how everything sounded like no more than a hiss of air and yet every noise was deafening for

none of it was done on purpose as if that would save their souls.

"Nobody usually does, it's just something you realize once you're looking for it," Remus sighed.

"Good familiar, or bad familiar?" Lily asked curiously.

Harry's troubled face wasn't much of an answer, he had a lot of mixed emotions about Malfoy right now both because of what he'd witnessed his mother doing through this book, and this year

in general made him feel Malfoy wasn't just going to be some annoyance in his background for once.

"Malfoy?" They all muttered with some general confusion more than anything. They'd thought him a dead kid because of that earlier bit, now to hear of Narcissa and him in fact just going about their business was as odd a concept as Harry choosing to go into Borgin and Burkes.

They couldn't even throw any general insults at him, for once they were actually worried this little Malfoy would just drop dead right in front of Harry more than they were worried about what snide comment he had today.

Sympathy gone. James hitched a ferocious expression onto his face, willing to curse that brats teeth out one by one for referring to anyone like that! He would still do anything he could to help Narcissa save that life, but it didn't mean he'd have to do it happily!

"The proper response," Sirius agreed, "if you'd shot a hex already I'd even say you've improved!"

Lily brushed at her hair for a moment before nodding a bit, it should be up to Hermione to decide how much he deserved for that. She was the one being insulted.

"A joke telescope has done more to their lives than you've ever impacted it," Remus sniffed.

"I like that she says again, as in she's well aware who's been leaving her kid on the train with decorations," James smirked.

Lily scowled heavily, wanting to give anything to step in and defend her child like Narcissa still had the privilege of doing thanks to something Severus was helping with. Where was the justice in that?

"Harry hasn't needed Dumbledore to do much of anything, or anyone for that matter," Sirius snarled at the slight, all of them missing Harry's troubled little frown.

"I really can't decide if he should be scolded, or praised for this," Remus muttered.

"Sassing a Death Eater is never a good idea, unless you have backup, and since he does, I'm all for it," Sirius huffed.

James lurched hard in his seat, like he was fighting back the urge to curse something into dust that wasn't in the room. What he would give to make it so no one could ever say that about his family again!

"Sometimes it's worth it," James said through gritted teeth. Lily bit hard at her tongue to stop herself agreeing with him, she honestly couldn't say she'd be acting any better, having already wished to hex the both of them long before they'd crossed that line.

"That is a terrible method!" Lily snapped. "It's what caused most of this problem with Fudge around!"

"Good riddance," Lily sniffed.

"I don't see the problem with that, could have made a statement she could," Sirius chuckled.

"Honestly, what's there more to say?" James sighed, desperately reaching for that good mood once more. "Let's get back to some shopping, we still haven't got to hear about the twins shop

that's been teased for ages!"

Harry gave a light laugh of agreement.

"A wonderful first impression then!" Sirius all but squealed, unable to believe Lily had gotten this one!

"What I'll remember them most vividly for," Remus whispered in anticipation.

James knew he would have been the same way, it was almost cruel just having to imagine such a sight in such a dismal place!

Lily couldn't help it, she laughed out of pure shock, the boys already dissolving into tears of mirth. It was by far the most hysterical thing anyone had ever called Voldemort, including using just the name Riddle instead!

"Even Voldemort would stop to laugh at that, no matter how human he isn't!" Sirius insisted.

"Well that one got morally disturbing," Lily finished the first round of products with more indulgence than anything.

"I want more details," James all but whined, his hand still twitching to snag the book away from Lily, who smiled at him and merely held it closer before continuing.

"She sounds so surprised," Sirius still managed a pout on the twins behalf.

"I personally would have reminded her of the time they turned Neville into a canary instead, but I suppose that's good business," James hadn't stopped grinning for pages now, it was fantastic!

"I'm sure that's why they wear it," Lily agreed.

"Should I be worried he keeps something on him to get rid of that?" Remus asked around twitching lips.

"Nah," his two friends said at once.

"Still? Would have thought they'd be able to pay someone even better than first years by now," James chuckled.

"I'm sure they have all kinds of anti-thieving spells around," Lily agreed.

"Wonder what they prefer to do with those getting caught? Cutting off limbs, or simply using them as test dummies for a few products?" Sirius snickered.

"Aw, I'm honored," Sirius pressed his hand to his heart, then scowled at once at his two friends who didn't even have the energy to smack him for the dower joke.

"That is the most depressing news I've heard all day, and that's saying a lot!" Sirius insisted still in his jesting tone. At least James almost cracked a smile for that one.

"I really doubt I did that much," Harry said a little dumbfounded, "I mean, they were two years above me! Surely a previous teacher-"

"I wouldn't count on it Harry," Remus corrected. "A different teacher every year, that's going to produce shotty results even if every one of them were steller, and from your track record alone you know that wasn't always the case."

Harry still looked rather blushy and baffled over the whole thing.

"This, is, brilliant!" James squealed. He couldn't see much of a use for those himself, but he'd certainly fix every one of those and some boots if they had them to his infant for the next year or more, he couldn't be the only parent seeing a practical use for these things! They certainly needed to be invented right along with those canary creams as soon as possible!

Remus let out a surprised whistle, that stuff was expensive, he was more surprised the twins weren't trying to recreate their own instead.

"Love it," Lily giggled, any number of helpful times that could be used coming to mind, and she was sure even unhelpful times if those boys smiles meant anything.

"That's got to get confusing. As if they weren't switched around enough, now they go by the same name," Sirius chuckled.

"I'm honestly more surprised they're not already trying to tell McGonagall they didn't do it," Remus snickered.

"I believe you can," James reminded Harry with a fond grin. "You are the one, and only person, who invested in this, I think that entitles you to a few free things every now and again."

"You basically paid for everything in that shop," Sirius agreed.

"No I didn't, they'd been making things well before I gave them all that gold," Harry protested, "and they were doing fine getting it off the ground before Bagman caused so much trouble."

"The truth still stands I honestly doubt they would have gotten this far this fast without you, have fun with that, and please tell me you brought me a Decoy Detonator!" James finished pleadingly.

Harry still shook his head, but stopped arguing the point. Lily was honestly proud of both sides and just kept going beaming.

"Then why did he lead her over there?" Remus snorted.

"Showing off, obviously," James rolled his eyes.

"I like that he answers first and then continues interrogating her, that's proper management," Sirius approved.

"Suddenly immensely glad none of us had sisters," James muttered, this already sounded like a nightmare, he could only imagine if Lily did have a girl anytime soon he'd be just as bad.

"Clearly she's not practiced enough duplication charms on him then," Sirius smirked.

"And we have entered, none of their business territory," Lily huffed, completely on Ginny's side. She'd only had two in the last year, that really wasn't so bad, and honestly still trying to repress laughter all of the boys in the room looked more likely to drink one of those love potions than offer anything for this conversation.

"That is a terrifying thought in itself," Remus agreed.

"Ah changing the subject, life's great gift!" Sirius cheered at once.

"I do love he knows all that just by glancing at the boxes," James snickered.

"Even with a family discount," Remus agreed.

"Never mind then," Remus agreed as his friends roared further with laughter. Lily couldn't help frowning just a bit, hoping Harry kept it to himself the twins had in fact done the opposite to someone not their brother. That wouldn't help Ron any with a problem he'd had feeling so overlooked, now possibly even replaced in his own family.

"Mother's gift," Lily agreed fondly while the boys only subsided into further snickering.

"Ginny is a great sister! Constantly keeping on the right track this one," James smirked.

Harry agreed at once, a fond smile on his face of how well Ginny knew how to deal with every person in her family.

"Honestly not surprised he ditched mummy," James snapped at once, not at all forgetting of those Malfoy's comments anytime soon.

"Surprised she let him stop holding her hand, as worried as she was about him," Lily muttered with far less venom. She vividly remembered Narcissa saying Draco had been eager to help Voldemort with something, and this setup was as forbidding as it got.

"That's a little presumptuous on your part," Remus frowned at him. "What's there for her to fear really? The Death Eaters are practically the boogeyman of the time right now, no one would dare hurt one of their kids."

Harry tried to explain his reasoning, "I'd never seen him away from his parents before, and Narcissa had certainly made a show of being worried about Malfoy there in the shop, stepping in

like she did."

"Oh, you're not," Lily sighed in resignation already.

"Oh, he is," James agreed, a torn expression on his face. He almost agreed with Lily, this was his son just looking for trouble, but at the same time, he couldn't claim to be doing any better at that age, or honestly even now.

"I could have quoted that with you what their responses would be," Sirius said with a proud little smirk.

"A marketing slogan I'm sure they'd be proud of, further helping you to get around trouble," Remus muttered.

"Yeah, no, got to disagree with Ron, I'm not surprised at all," Sirius stated in the such the same sarcastic tone his best friend had once done, Harry found it a bit eerie.

"Not to mention you hardly ever practice," James huffed.

"There it is," Remus agreed, having fixing to correct Harry on that detail.

"Maybe if you want him to be quiet, don't pinch him to get his attention," Lily couldn't help but giggle. "Honestly, all three of you, you seem lacking in the ability to wave a hand around, gets the job done less painfully."

Harry chose not to answer that while still rubbing the spot.

"That would have given me heart failure if I hadn't known the circumstances of it," James muttered.

Harry couldn't help but shift uncomfortably, a great buzzing flowing across his mind telling him to pay attention now, as if he weren't doing that already.

"Ron certainly has his priorities in order," Sirius couldn't help bursting out laughing he'd kept hold of those all this time.

"I'm hoping whatever prevents one from stealing traced to blood, otherwise the whole store would realize you three are missing," James pointed out.

"We weren't tackled by Hagrid, so I think we're in the clear," Harry brushed off, still trying to lean in eagerly for what Malfoy was up to, an honest first since his second year.

"And my assertion those are needed for all occasions finally gets its first validation," James nodded along.

Harry felt like he'd just slammed his skull as hard into Hogwarts castle as he could already, that simpel word meant something dire! He kept his breath carefully neutral though, sadly still very clearly giving away something as they all glanced anxiously at him, but knew Malfoy was the only one who could give answers right now, as grating as that could get.

"Why would he use him as a reference," Remus demanded so horsley, only Sirius had heard.

"It's a big name in the Death Eater community Moony, don't freak yourself out over details," Sirius quietly soothed so as not to distract Lily.

"No more like a fool than usual, in fact whatever it is might even deter from that mug!" James tried in vain for a light joke, but even he didn't care about it, far more invested in whatever this was going on. It did not feel like a coincidence at all they'd been told Malfoy was given a task, and the next time they saw him, he was looking for help from Borgin.

"Why not? She clearly knows about everything else going on," Harry muttered in surprise, desperate to get any answer right now that didn't make his head feel as if that slamming was being

repeated.

"She's clearly not approving of it love, and I'm sure she's made that known to him," Lily calmly explained, fighting back the urge to run her hand through his hair to sooth that agitated face. None of them were surprised this wasn't as informative as they'd have liked.

"Glad to know we gleaned as much as you, oh almighty Noticer," Sirius sighed.

"As if I need another title," Harry grumbled.

"What is she up to?" Remus demanded, looking worried for her safety at once.

"She clearly thinks she can get more out of this, and I can almost see her point," Lily had a critical eye in place. "Obviously neither of the boys could do it, they're too well noticed on sight, but if she plays this right and says the right thing, she very well could."

"She doesn't have a spotless track record for that," Remus still looked worried, remembering occasions where she'd still frozen on the spot or come up with some very lame excuses.

"On the other hand, she gets better with practice," Sirius tried to offer hopefully, at least what she'd done to Umbridge and Marietta last year proved she had a streak not to be messed with,

hopefully that shone through right now.

"Well she's off to a terrible start," James moaned, already fighting back the impulse to bury his face in his fingers.

"Nope, she's already blown it," Sirius sighed in disappointment.

"Apparently she only does well under pressure, I'm sure if someone was threatening to curse her she'd have come up with a much better on the spot lie," James sighed.

"There's something I never thought I'd hear in any context," Harry crinkled up his nose.

"Credit for trying," Lily offered a weak little grin. "It took something for her to go in there and come up with anything as fast as she did."

"It would have done them better to actually come up with a plan, even to wait a few moments, rather than coming in right after he'd left," James sighed. Hermione had unintentionally ruined

something that could have been quite valuable.

"Can't say Ron would have done any better," Sirius shrugged, "honestly of the lot of you, you all can't really lie to save your life."

"Thank you Sirius," Harry said blandly, though his heart wasn't at all in it. Finally he was fully and thoroughly distracted from his godfather, and was not at all pleased what his mind had settled on. Whatever Malfoy was up to, it somehow wasn't going to lead to anything better than dwelling on the death of him.

"You only prove my point," Sirius couldn't help but insist, and refused to stop smirking at Harry until he offered an uneasy smile back.


	7. THE SLUG CLUB

James took the book from Lily, their hands lingering for an extra second on each other. It didn't seem possible, but somehow every new year of their sons school added an extra layer of worry, and this one was no better. With only more worrisome details for whatever the Death Eaters were planning, the parents terror could only grow when Harry would figure it out.

For now though, they could at least hope the rest of his stay at the Burrow and his soon train ride held no excitement, so James still continued with high spirits.

"I entirely agree," Sirius couldn't help but dejectedly say, there wasn't much of a funny spin he could put on that.

"They what?" They all demanded, sure they'd heard wrong.

"Let him finish," Harry soothed, though the look on his face showed it wasn't going to end much better.

"It is now a good thing Molly never let them join the Order," Remus rolled his eyes. "After the third meeting they'd probably stop attending."

"Be fair, they don't know what we know, which is there is something going on," Lily halfheartedly defended. "They just know that for the past five years Malfoy's been a rotten child,

they've just witnessed one of his acts this time."

"They should have believed me when I said it was something more, how else was I supposed to figure out what Malfoy was up to if I couldn't bounce ideas off of them," Harry huffed.

"I'm still amazed you can accomplish that at all," James smirked.

"Why would she even bring that in there and expect to get any work done?" Sirius agreed.

"When on Earth did Malfoy have that?" Sirius demanded, clearly thinking he'd missed something.

"I told Ron Malfoy took an interest to it the first time I was in there, maybe Ron thought I meant his dad did buy it," Harry offered, though they'd never actually seen him use it in school.

"I can't see even Borgin and Burkes having anything to help with that though," Remus disagreed. "Revenge against who? Azkaban? The Ministry? You?"

"I would have said the first seemed the most likely, what with the 'it's never been done before' bit Narcissa offered, but just last year there were massive breakouts, so that doesn't seem the

problem," Sirius sighed.

"Voldemort's gotten others into Hogwarts if he was the target, and Malfoy's also a student, so that shouldn't be it either," Lily agreed while trying not to bite at her lip.

"And I can not for the life of me imagine what a sixteen year old could do against the Ministry of Magic, even they're not that incompetent," James sighed.

"You're missing the part where this was originally Voldemort's idea," Harry insisted as he felt sure they were missing the mark on all accounts.

"Yet Malfoy's clearly pleased to go along with whatever it is, not just following orders, so it must be something he'd be for as well. Revenge is the best we've got to go on as far as motive," Lily patiently reminded.

Harry couldn't help smiling at them, they'd already offered more for his idea than his two friends, and it felt nice to not be so dismissed.

Sirius look muddled, like he wasn't sure what the response he was supposed to give for that was. His preferred joke was most certainly in poor taste, but it would be crass of him not to do it at this point!

Then he saw Harry look to him, almost genuinely concerned at even the hint of a pause, so Sirius finished as if there hadn't been one, "I wish I could still help out with this pup."

Lily gave the obligatory groan and Remus made to flick him in the ear, but all of them had an almost relieved look about them. At least they didn't look like they were counting down how many times he had left to do that.

"And that is?" James encouraged when Harry got a rather dissatisfied look on his face for this thought occurring to him now.

"That Malfoy's a Death Eater," he sighed.

There was a pitying little pause at the look of resignation on his face while Sirius nodded slowly.

"Guess you already put that together from what Narcissa said. I wish it was more surprising, or rare honestly, for that megalomaniac to be using anyone and everyone he wants." It was an even more depressing realization his own little brother was hardly older than this Malfoy kid when he'd suffered a similar fate, and likely as undo-able a task from what they'd heard. Sirius couldn't come up with another reason for why he'd desert his lifelong dream other than getting a job he couldn't handle.

"Can't even blame him, after last year, that's the first thing I would have thought to," Remus sighed.

"Actually, why would you have put that together considering you didn't know what we did," James couldn't help but jump at this leap.

"You guys just agreed it isn't so crazy," Harry said defensively at once.

"Because we know it's true," James agreed, "but you haven't exactly seen a lot of experience with it, or had it confirmed before that. You were just chatting about his dad and what he could be up to."

Harry just huffed and muttered, but waved his dad on, knowing he'd have to explain himself to his friends in a few moments already like he'd already been doing all summer.

"Age has never been a factor for him, it's what you can do for him," Sirius scowled.

"I, didn't even notice that," Lily's brows shot up in surprise, before she corrected, "though joining the Death Eaters doesn't automatically mean you got a Dark Mark. I'd think that was only for those he's marked as worthy, not of every single one."

Harry chose not to argue back since she didn't call him crazy outright for it.

"I could scare the pants off of him without pants!" Sirius agreed without the hesitation this time, but as his friends winced slightly and Harry gave a softer laugh than usual, he needlessly pointed out, "You keep invoking my name, I can tell how much you'd been missing me."

Harry grinned at him again, though he'd willingly admit he'd have liked to have his godfathers opinion on this at the time as much as anything.

"He'd treat him nothing like me!" Sirius insisted while Remus flicked his ear again.

"To Harry's credit, Malfoy did show him something and he seemed much more likely to back down," James agreed with that logic, never not astounded how his son so easily put such things

together they'd only given passing thoughts to.

"It's not usual you've got to deal with that with Hermione and Ron," Remus sighed, already exhausted by this ongoing argument he could feel brewing.

"What a kind warning," Sirius couldn't help but snicker.

"Who were the other options besides the two sisters?" James wondered at that.

"Hopefully not past girlfriends of Bill's, that wouldn't do him any favors," Sirius smirked.

"Sirius, I'm advising you I don't care how far in advance, don't ever bring that up in your own wedding, it will get you cursed," Lily promised, wanting to smack him herself for the stupid

suggestion no matter how much he was joking.

"Padfoot seems to have an unfortunate ability to attract violent women," James pleasantly noted.

"I imagine they were far less violent before they met him," Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily's the only exception I've met."

"Why?" Harry asked in confusion, thinking Ginny wouldn't look horrible in any color she chose.

"I'm not going to let Lily explain that, no one else cares," Sirius loudly said.

She scowled at him even more than before, honestly wanting to smack him herself now just for thinking she would, she hadn't really a care for that sort of thing.

"You're only proving Prongs' point," Remus happily reminded him while James ignored them anyways.

"You really can't blame those girls, thinking her so vain, when every time she's been mentioned this summer she's talking about herself and doing that," Lily sighed.

"The Weasley's really do have the most interesting names for things," Remus cocked his head to the side, thinking Arnold the most mundane thing that could be given to a purple ball of fluff.

"Remember Ginny named Pig to, so as of now it's all her fault, and she seems to have no consistency on how wild they get," Sirius chuckled.

"What a lovely sister," James noted.

"Growing happier by the moment I never used to have one," Sirius agreed, making Lily flush in surprise and decide not to put extra salt on his plate at lunch, for now.

"There is such a thing as taking your job-" Remus cut himself off with a nasty look at Sirius, who looked disappointed his friend hadn't slipped up.

"I can't really blame her, it just sounds odd to need security for the short walk it is onto the platform," James agreed.

"So ungrateful for someone trying to hold your hand," Sirius nodded.

Harry really couldn't help a nostalgic smile as that image lingered in his mind, and he really did wonder for a moment why he'd feel like it would be so long before he saw it again. He still had another school year left of course to be missing such a thing.

"Poor thing is probably going to forget that next year as well, it is odd to get used to," Sirius sighed, it had always thrown him off when Moony did it, and then Prongs as well in their last

year.

"Well this is bringing back an unpleasant flashback," James grumbled, but tried to ignore Sirius shifting in unease as well for the reminder of when this had last happened.

"Well you're certainly not wrong on either account," Sirius burst out with surprised laughter.

James couldn't get the same enthusiasm for realizing what Harry was going to tell him, it was too depressing to once again here his son turning to someone else who should have been him.

"I'm not really surprised they didn't fall for that," Sirius agreed.

"I'm more shocked than anything Harry thought they did," Remus snorted.

"He's got you there," James agreed.

"Oh don't say that, he'll actually be getting it," Lily sighed.

"Honestly the second," Sirius pointed out while Harry tried to scowl at him without admitting he was right.

"I'm almost glad that's not as common place in their time," Lily blinked in surprise for that response from him.

"Voldemort also doesn't have the swollen ranks he does in this time," James reminded pityingly. "Now he's got massive followers every which way, from all we've seen though, he really may not

have more than his circle. I can almost see where Arthur's coming from."

Harry at least felt better hearing that explained, but it didn't make him feel better everyone kept calling this such a crazy idea when he knew he was right.

Harry's scowl increased, this was as maddening as last year! Hadn't he proved himself more than a paranoid child! He should be taken seriously about this!

"Relax Harry," James tried to sooth with a look Harry couldn't quite identify with. "You've come to him with a hunch, and he's at least listening to you. Come back again with a bit more proof,

which I know you'll get during your year, and I know you'll get something done."

Harry did relax just a bit, hoping he was right, and missing his dad's smile increasing.

Sirius honestly wanted to laugh at the woman again, but the look on Lily's face promised he wouldn't be allowed without getting an earful. She was grateful someone was still looking after her boy.

"Suppose you should be grateful they're not all following you around like Collin was yet," Remus sighed.

"Ouch, getting dismissed all over the place this year," James winced.

"What a sight to behold, little Ginny dismissing the Great Chosen One," Sirius agreed.

Harry found their teasing only mildly less annoying than the staring and chose to ignore them just as well.

"Was she really around that much? You hardly mentioned her more than normal," Lily asked in surprise.

Harry chose not to answer, still in a clear bad mood for the gawkers it seemed.

Sirius inhaled deeply, and this time Remus swooped in and jammed his finger into Sirius' ear, causing him to yelp in protest but thankfully not again be able to shout about one of Harry's

friends showing up. Sirius rubbed at his ear and called Moony a killjoy, who decided he'd rather be that than Sirius, killer of ears.

"Luna's back," Sirius said pointedly to Remus, though thankfully he kept it at a decent volume, his hand still protectively on his ear.

"Thank you Sirius, that's quite interesting to know," Remus gently pandered now that he wasn't shouting it.

"To Rita Skeeter though, we just can't forget that part," James wrinkled his nose at the reminder.

"Worth it," Harry shrugged, it had done him much more good than harm for once.

"Congratulations, they're getting what Ron always wanted," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hope they enjoy it," Harry sighed.

All five of them made agitated faces at that, honestly wishing Neville would stop being compared to his parents as much as Harry wished the same of late.

"Blimey, Neville's already getting some better luck for his life," Remus winced for the reminder.

"Glad to know at least that toad won't let a joke die," Sirius chuckled.

"That's actually a good question I hadn't thought of," Lily agreed at once.

"Won't need to will we, unless we actually manage to get another teacher like Umbridge who refuses to teach us," Harry shrugged, very much hoping his luck wasn't that awful.

"Well yes, but who says you can't still use it to help along students. The classes in general are still majorly behind on most basic curses, as was apparent by Fred and George," Remus reminded.

"Plus study groups actually make doing work more bearable," James agreed.

Harry was a bit surprised they were all so encouraging of an idea that hadn't even crossed his mind, and honestly regret just a bit not continuing with it. Though he wasn't sure how it would

have even been possible, considering his Quidditch practices and upcoming lessons with Dumbledore would honestly make his schedule as hectic as last year.

"Well that was depressing," Sirius said with chipper what everyone was thinking.

"Surely she has friends," Lily tried at once to say positively as if to the girl herself. "She's been known to hang around with Ginny."

"She said friends plural though, making me wonder how many others besides Ginny," Remus muttered.

"She's rather good at that, I should be taking notes," James agreed.

"Romilda clearly has no sense of fun at all, not immediately asking what was going on in there," Sirius scoffed.

"Why would they think Harry would want to sit with them anyways," James scowled. "Who wants to sits with brats two years below them."

Lily honestly wanted to tell James he was being a brat by saying that, but she couldn't disagree with him either.

"Hopefully that taught her right quick about opening her mouth," Remus rolled his eyes. Confidence could be as much a hindrance if not used correctly, which he'd had seven years to watch.

"Who says they're not cool, I'd hang out with them," Sirius scoffed.

"Harry did," James reminded with a chuckle, thinking this wasn't far off from how his last year had started. If Neville's plant spit up on everyone again and Cho came around it would get eerie.

"I learned my lesson," Harry said smoothly.

"Well that's true," James puffed up his chest with pride.

Sirius made a deep snarling noise, well to aware of the feeling your parent wished to replace you, and wouldn't wish that on anyone else! His noise of disgust was echoed throughout the room,

Lily couldn't keep going for a moment she was so depressed anyone could think that about themselves!

James made a little noise of sympathy for Harry though, he had heard Sirius say much the same and had just as quickly himself diverted the topic, there just wasn't much you could say to that.

"Highly doubt it," Remus frowned, mind still lingering on other things.

"Did he at once tell you that? Surely he mentioned his better grades," Lily tried to cajole out something positive of that.

Harry distractedly said no, but he hadn't been listening in great detail to what Neville had been saying either.

None of them had forgotten this, but they'd been happily side stepping that in the hopes it wouldn't bog Harry down. Clearly it was going to now though.

Lily was near tears by the end of this, and James wasn't feeling much better. Their conviction to change this path Harry had been on suddenly put a cold spin on in it like they'd never have

believed. What if they did stop this from happening to their family? Could they still guarantee the same for Neville, put this fate on someone else? Were they condemning another child to this life just to save theirs?

James refused to let himself linger on that, he'd find a way to save his family, Neville, the whole bloody world if he had to! He wasn't going to let this happen again, and he wouldn't hear a thing about it otherwise!

"Didn't she already mention those?" James demanded with more force than the question called for.

"Not that I've heard, unless you're thinking of the Nargles that were never explained," Remus said lightly.

James hardly heard him any more than he'd realized he'd asked a question.

"Who knew there was an actual reason for the way Sirius was," Lily halfheartedly poked fun. It really was impossible to get on with just twenty minutes without something depressing dragging

them all down of late, even the thought of trying to preserve their own future was doing it now.

Sirius was so distracted he didn't even have a response for her.

"Which Harry is Captain of!" James burst so loud it was as if he was actively trying to see how loud he could say it.

Harry managed a half-hearted laugh for him, and James kept listening feeling just a bit better he'd managed to shout about something good again.

"He what!" Harry wasn't the only one to shout in surprise, but did keep going, "I didn't even know you could do that."

"I've only known one to," Remus frowned uneasily, "and she had Maledictus, though I don't know what kind. Could barely keep up in the corridors she was so sickly, she certainly didn't want

the extra Prefect duties."

Harry had no clue what that was, though understood enough by that to understand it was a sickness you wouldn't want, so instead keep going with determination, "this is proof then! Malfoy

is up to something! There's no way he'd give up that power otherwise," he finished with his fist in his hand to prove his point.

"Calm down Harry, nobody in here disagreed with you," Lily half scolded why he was being so adamant about this.

"Right, sorry," he muttered, backing down at once but that triumphant look lingered and James kept going despite his friends still muttering curiously if there could be something else going on.

"Was that really necessary, I'm sure we got that all on our own." Lily rolled her eyes.

"He's had his fingers threatened for months, let him enjoy his free range," Sirius chuckled while wagging his own.

"Not really that crazy," James agreed. "It's almost like he's been demoted after abusing so much power."

Harry looked offended, like he thought he was being dismissed, but forced himself not to snap at him. He was being crazy, they knew something was going on, he didn't need to go shouting at

everyone like they were his friends trying to tell him otherwise.

"What were you going to say?" Sirius asked.

"Exactly that, I think he's got better things to do this year," Harry sighed, already feeling he had no care for what was fixing to happen and would much rather focus on what he'd been interrupted on. "I was still debating how much farther I was going to keep going though. I trust Neville and Luna of course, but wasn't sure if I was going to tell them what I saw on holiday yet."

"I don't see why not, they know about as much as you do on Malfoy's front, and since you're own friends are driving you nuts, I'm sure at least Luna would have indulged hearing you talk about it," James pointed out.

Harry nodded his agreement, now looking even more agitated by whatever this interruption was.

"Neville's clearly a name in this future, if to a lesser degree than Harry without all the press. I'm sure Slughorn's heard of his parents anyways," Lily said without surprise.

"Why was Slughorn on the train though?" Harry demanded, he'd been right to be annoyed by this, it seemed pointless already.

"He does it every few years or so, scope out new students and invite the older ones in early, a way to reconnect over the summer before school even kicks in," Lily shrugged.

"Hasn't seemed to stop you yet," Sirius chucked.

"I completely forgot now Luna and Neville know about your cloak, as well as Ginny if she didn't before," James blinked in surprise.

"Least Neville's getting a new experience out of this," Sirius grinned.

"No love loss there eh?" James couldn't help but tease.

Harry didn't even change colors for this, just shrugged while his mind lingered on other things.

Lily couldn't help but frown severely for that. "Honestly, was Hermione's curse permanent? That's well going beyond what the girl deserved, making the decision she did. Did she really ruin another girls life with that?"

"I really don't think so, it was fading, slowly," Harry shrugged. "Certainly at the end of last year even that wouldn't have hidden it as well, so I'm positive given another month it'll be gone."

Lily still looked a bit tart, but couldn't hold it onto her forever so long as Hermione hadn't.

Smirking slightly, Harry pushed on.

They didn't need to ask how Harry felt about this, his unimpressed look spoke volumes. He'd no more cottoned onto all Slughorn could offer from Dumbledore's and their own explanations than decided he wanted to master potions.

"Ouch, how'd Ginny end up in there and not Ron?" Sirius asked.

"I've no idea, but she doesn't seem any more pleased with it than I was," Harry said with a bit of sympathy, wishing he could swap places with Slughorn to at least let Ginny breath a bit.

Lily clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes while the boys grinned.

Harry then imitated his mother, rolling his eyes heavily and not at all enjoying the sensation telling him he'd rather forget this one all over again.

"As welcome a greeting as Zambini's from that," Remus snickered

"Considering the man's favorite treat is Crystallized Pineapple, I wouldn't hold him to that," Lily said with the same old indulgence she'd used for seven years when speaking to Slughorn. She couldn't believe how much she was enjoying hearing about him again interacting with a new round of students, she felt like she could have been in there chatting along with the whole thing. It

was all too easy to picture the man wagging his finger in reprove at her for giving that away already.

"Well this conversation just got a lot more interesting," James muttered while Remus shifted around, not sure how to feel about that being brought up again. Considering it had last been

spoken of ruining Sirius' life because of him, not ecstatic, but if he could actually find a way to make that a routine part of his life...

"Frightening the kid into not eating, this man really knows how to push buttons," Sirius huffed.

"And that's Belby gone from the group," James mimed pointing his wand at nothing and blowing it away.

"Because he doesn't keep in contact with an Uncle? He might still be really good at something even so," Harry defended.

"Doesn't have many proper connections though, to get him many places," Lily reminded. "Or he's not yet realized he should be mentioning those."

"Fascinating creatures, I think they should be studied much more than they're given the chance," Remus began babbling at once with a sad little frown that hunting them was such a popular sport.

"You can only run one off with a pure white hound, and they're known to curse the farm they locate to by suckling on a mother pig, but I'd love to see more studies of the extent-"

"Just remember if you bring one of those home, I can't run it off," Sirius rolled his eyes before waving James on while Remus continued muttering to himself.

"I think McLaggen just became his new poster child," James scrunched up his face at this kid somehow managing all that, though trying hard not to yet judge him as pompous as the rest of the Slug Club ended up being. Lily of course never went the same way, so he was trying to be mature here.

Harry huffed and muttered he wished he'd noticed that before he'd swallowed his own.

"I'd consider Arthur well-known and influental from what little we've been able to hear about his life," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Maybe Slughorn recognizes he made a mistake missing him and won't do it again with the first female Weasley in seven generations," Remus shrugged.

"Right," Sirius grumbled while making a face.

All five of them were shifting uncomfortably by the end of this, all knowing Neville didn't need anyone's validation to know how good he was without his parents constantly being brought up,

and wished the world would realize that same as Harry.

"Lovely mental image," James' scowl increased, he could still distaste Slughorn even while cheering in the background better this than hearing Snape again.

"I don't need a Slytherin in the conversation to know when I've heard such loaded dung thank you!" Sirius snapped.

Harry tried for an awkward laugh that couldn't get through, no matter how many times this was mentioned it just wasn't easy to hear.

"Ginny really is just growing better with every mention," Sirius smirked, cackles smoothing at once at least someone in there would keep them on their toes.

"Concurred," James needlessly agreed while Harry smirked without surprise.

"Tiny, minuscule ones, wouldn't even notice them, why bother," Remus snipped for this being so dismissed.

"Thank Merlin for Neville," Lily sighed in relief, she'd hug him right now for getting Harry out of that no matter how unentinally.

"Not going to get a great story out of this one," Sirius sneered.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll forget our invitation along with Belby's," Harry said dully without any real hope.

Harry's good mood swung back at once though, for no reason he could tell, he could just imagine for some reason at least Ginny got a kick out of that conversation.

"A crying shame, I know I'm done with having him around," Sirius mocked with a smirk at Harry.

"Thank's Sirius, it's about time," Harry smiled.

"Really couldn't have picked a worse name," Remus crinkled up his nose.

"Don't know what you're talking about, it speaks volumes about it's members already, certainly the head fat slimy git," James happily tuned Lily in to many of their jokes growing up with this. She merely rolled her eyes and ignored them.

"I'm starting to regret the fact you even have manners sometimes," Sirius sighed, he knew he'd walked out of there long before this part with Prongs right behind him.

All of them whooped with further laughter, that story just got ten times better.

"Hard to forget someone with a nose up his own arse," Sirius agreed.

"Perfectly reasonable," James agreed.

"Best reason he's ever invited anyone to those things!" Remus disagreed.

"I'm glad you agree Harry," Sirius said with such enthusiasm he didn't even take his crack at pointing out the two had essentially said the same thing.

"You seem to get those a lot," Lily sighed.

"I blame you," James happily told his wife. "Whenever I got them, a corridor just got filled with all the suits of armor in the castle. Whenever you got them, you put yourself in the hospital wing for a potion experiment, so it's really all you he gets it from."

"I resent that," she halfheartedly defended, "I never went about spying on anyone for fun, that was far more up your alley!"

"Fine then, he gets it from both of you being insane," Sirius happily inserted. James seemed satisfied enough to go onto the actual idea while Lily made a face at him.

"Why on Earth would you think that?" Remus blinked in surprise. "Does he hang around with Malfoy often? You well know the students don't get their own compartments by grade and house."

"I saw them all in there all the other years, they tended to band together," Harry defended. "Sorry I've never mentioned it before."*

"Them all congratulating themselves for being part of the an elite human species. Idiots." Sirius told Harry in disbelief.

"Or something like what Malfoy's up to," Harry said pointedly.

"Narcissa made it clear this was top secret information, Bellatrix was surprised when Snape knew," Lily reminded. "So Malfoy's not likely to be blabbing it around."

"I didn't know that at the time," Harry reminded. "I just wanted proof of what he was doing."

"You might get something then, you are fairly good at picking up on details," James went on curiously.

Sirius at once insisted, "I'm telling you, I'd totally believe you!"

"I know Sirius," Harry said quietly, trying to force a laugh again, but now all the more determined he could pull off something he was sure the Marauders would approve of, no matter how much they thought it a goofy idea at the beginning.

Harry let out a hiss of breath in remembered pain, shifting his foot uncomfortably, and ignoring the almost pitying look of those around him. He didn't want to hear what better idea they would

have come up with to avoid that happening, but Sirius gave it anyways. "It's too bad you didn't bring an extendable ear with you, or even just manage to leave a crack in the door they wouldn't have noticed. Then you could have stayed on the outside and avoided this problem of actually slipping in."

"You lot just come up with the best strategies sitting around comfortably in here," Harry grumbled, though admittedly he was just as sure they would have come up with that on the spot,

they'd trained their minds to think up such on the spot lies and solutions, as they so constantly reminded him.

"That right there was almost worth the price you going in," Sirius laughed heartily, imaging all those dumbfounded expressions for this happening.

"I'm now regretting not pulling more stunts on the train like doors randomly opening, would have been a kick," James agreed.

"Best we didn't, wouldn't want the trolley lady giving us hell if she caught us," Remus pointed out. "She might have withheld snacks from us," he finished with a horrified look.

"I wouldn't put it past her to tell McGonagall though, so I guess it's best," Sirius sighed.

Lily in particular had a crude look on her face, that sounded like a punishment, pampering such a toerag.

"Not him? Oh, the horror!" Sirius managed a simpering impression of a teenage girl.

"The horrifying part is, he might have actually got one the year before his father lost so much favor," James crinkled his face in disgust.

"I didn't realize he was a Gryffindor," Lily said in surprise.

"Shows how much Harry pays attention to even his fellow students in his house," James shrugged without much concern, though there hadn't yet been anything wrong with him, it was still annoying he'd been a prime example of everything wrong with that Club.

"Been liking him more and more lately on principle," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I really am glad Neville outranks me on the scale of his outrage," Harry shook his head.

Then Harry sighed without surprise that had come soon after. He'd have to be sure to mention to Neville he wasn't in fact the person Malfoy hated most though, perhaps he'd get lucky and Neville would put Malfoy in a dress and feathered hat for him next.

Harry felt his blood start boiling at once at the idea, that was ridiculous! Of course Ginny was good looking, but surely Pansy was just being her usual pugnacious self!

"Her exact sentiments as well I'm sure," Sirius rolled his eyes while Lily giggled a bit at the expression on her sons face, he looked far more agitated by this than she would have thought. He

really must have grown fond of her over the summer.

"Well at least he won't turn out like his mother," Remus snarked.

"Allowed her," James couldn't help but repeat that like speaking of curdled milk, it really was odd to think of Malfoy having a girlfriend.

"The one good thing that man has going for him," Sirius sighed.

"As if they need a way to make more connections," James agreed solemnly.

Remus went wide eyed in mock concern. "Of course! Now next time, try backtracking before you go out of your way to show how much you care, it'll come off much better."

"Why couldn't you be on the train again Moony," Sirius muttered.

"Considering I already had my fingers crossed he wouldn't be there this year, I refuse to get my hopes up again," James grumbled.

Harry perked up with interest in the conversation again, easily distracted from picturing Ginny releasing a few more Bat-Bogey Hexes in this compartment again. This was exactly what he'd

been in there to hear!

"Probably dismiss it again," Harry pessimistically answered himself.

"They haven't dismissed anything love," Lily patiently corrected, clearly determined to stop him griping about this. "They just need more to go on than you. It's not that they don't believe you, they know you're right, they're just not as convinced it's as terrible as you seem to think."

Harry looked simmered at least, though not at all comforted he hadn't found himself as wrong as he found her right.

"Praise Merlin!" Sirius mock raised a glass.

"I'm not thankful we don't have to hear about him more, as if we needed to hear of more smug expressions," Remus told him with an obvious look Sirius happily ignored.

"I really hate it when he's not wrong," James sighed.

"At least he's right in all the wrong ways," Sirius said with mock chipper.

James hadn't meant for his voice to go so quiet at the end, but he certainly hadn't been expecting Malfoy to bring up something so casually that had reduced his mother to tears and pleading.

Narcissa hadn't been joking when she'd said Malfoy was eager to be doing this. Maybe not anytime soon, but even then Malfoy was impling whatever this job was wasn't far off in the future.

The moment was broken by Sirius snorting viciously and snapping, "here I thought she'd get that expression any time she tried to look in a mirror without breaking one!"

"Those poor deluded kids have no idea what they're hearing," Lily gave a resounded agreement.

"Uhoh," all five of them muttered in unease. Harry was pinned with five against one, that wouldn't be a friendly fight even with his slight advantage of getting the first surprise attack in.

"I have no doubt they'll grab Hedwig for you," Lily distractedly agreed, wishing he'd get out of there already, but knowing he had to wait anyways for them all to leave. It was only a slight relief Malfoy hadn't noticed anything, but they were all acutely aware now how much trouble Harry could have potentially gotten himself into, and it wasn't much fun now.

"It's good to know they really are as terrible as the one they follow around," James rolled his eyes.

The others perked up with interest at once, thinking that would have been worth it if they could know something so early of what Malfoy was up to, while Harry sank back uneasily in his seat,

not at all getting a good feeling about this.

Sirius was so surprised a spell had come out of James' mouth he accidentally drew his wand and shot a hex right back at him, causing the book to sail away along with his glasses.

"Really Sirius? Was that necessary?" Remus asked him as James scowled and summoned them back.

"You were just as thrown by that as I was!" Sirius defended.

"Least I didn't try to throw him across the room for it," Remus rolled his eyes.

Lily had yelped in surprise and tried to jump away from James, they'd all startled hard at a spell of all things coming out of his mouth!

"Bloody hell, I take it back!" James groaned as he gazed at that and back to his son, unphased by his best mate, eyes only on his kid. "Don't you ever do this again without backup!"

Harry just nodded with a resigned expression in place, he wasn't looking forward to the shock wearing off and all of them realizing he'd just been bested by Malfoy!

Lily groaned and put her face in her hands, while the boys as well looked miserable for how this was going to go. Harry would be lucky to leave with tentacles on his face, for all the revenge

Malfoy could give of the past few train rides.

"Pity he's really not as stupid as he looks," Sirius ground out, clutching his wand tight and wishing more every second he could retaliate in some way against someone who deserved it.

Harry couldn't help but cover his nose now, his face still leary of what was to come next, while James hissed in outrage for an extra moment before noticing this part was almost done. He

couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

Not, most definitely not!

"Of all the cowardly, black-hearted things to do!" Sirius snarled in outrage. "He's just going to leave you there!"

"I- what's going to happen to me!" Harry demanded in a panic. It had certainly been funny enough to do the same to Malfoy back at Nine and Three-Quarters the past two years, but not at Hogsmeade station!

"I, honestly have no clue, never tried," James groaned as he passed Sirius the book, no one looking forward to finding out.

HPHPHP

*The Hand of Glory and this are both guilty of just randomly inserting things that apparently should have been common knowledge. Zabini hangs around Malfoy though he's never been

mentioned since his sorting, Malfoy just apparently has a hand of Glory though it was mentioned all of one time in book two Malfoy certainly didn't own. I feel like this was one of those moments

JK just made up something on the spot and obviously by this point didn't have a chance to go back and put in, leaving me unable to help noticing both of these would very obviously be important later. One out of two was.

** I think JK meant Stupify, as that one paralyzes you the way you are, where as Petreifucs Totalus has all your limbs snapping together before you do the same.

***Four people to do with that Prophecy have their noses broken. Voldemort doesn't have one, Neville got his broken last year in the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore by Aberforth all those years ago, and now Harry here. If something had happened to Trelawney's nose, I would have thought it was some curse of Prophecy type thing for this to happen.


	8. SNAPE VICTORIOUS

Sirius tried to start as calmly as he could, even trying to sound curious instead of outraged at what was being done to Harry. He'd never heard of someone being left on the train before, honestly if he'd thought about it he would have said there should be some magical means to stop this happening. No matter what his mind tried to offer in peace though, he began reading so hectically,

they all had to concentrate very hard to even understand him, as if they weren't doing that anyways.

"Maybe somebody else will come in and step on you!" Remus said half hysterically, while Sirius gave a mechanical laugh for a sentence he never thought he'd want to hear.

Sirius was so distracted he didn't even seem to realize there had been a repeat for once.

James was jittering so much in place he looked like he had to run to the bathroom, Lily half expected McGonagall to shout any moment for Potter to sit still. Of course she was as stressed as

the rest of them, but she really couldn't understand the guilt he was trying to smother with that same expression.

He caught his wife staring at him and tried to martial his expression better, hoping not to give her any extra worries, as if they needed them now, by saying, "surely Ron or Hermione will notice he's gone and tell someone! This won't be a problem!" He still ended in an agitated grimace that this was happening at all. How was it possible of all the times his son had used the only gift he'd left him, it had ended up worse more times than useful! Why couldn't anything ever work out like it should!*

Lily was distracted from James at once, making a high agitated noise this was happening to him! Everybody would be panicking, any number of things would go on before the spell began to wear

off hours later and Harry somehow managed to get in contact again!

"The difference is, they're still holding their wands while they do!" Remus uneasily corrected, clearly trying to rid the awkward silence hanging above them all for this. "You'll actually be

starting to do that this year, assuming of course-"

"I get off the train first," Harry finished for him, causing Remus' mouth to snap shut again at once.

"Let's just be grateful Malfoy didn't take that," Sirius muttered.

"Do you even know how to get yourself out of that spell?" Remus couldn't seem to help but question. "I've hardly heard anyone tell you Finite Incantatem, though you certainly picked up on

other spells just by watching them-"

Sirius gently placed his hand on Remus' back, but insisted threatening, "Moony, if you don't shut up, you'll need much more than that spell to be able to speak again."

Remus had to use a conscious effort to keep himself shut up, he knew not to take that threat ideally.

James gave his sons shoulder a shaky pat, not at all blaming him for that one, they were all wondering that same thing.

Lily was biting her tongue in the effort to stop herself hoping aloud the train wouldn't even take back off if a student stayed on for some reason, surely some magic would hold it there; or even better, it wouldn't move at all until the end of next year, and why would it! Obviously someone would find him by then, they were panicking for nothing...

Harry groaned miserably, as if this wasn't all bad enough! He couldn't believe those around him weren't laughing yet either, it was quite close to the most humiliating thing since Skeeter's articles.

Lily couldn't help but grouse none to silently with her fingers at her temple, there went that wish! Her mind was steam rolling as fast as that train with all the horrible ways this was going to go!

"Tonks is back!" Sirius whooped at once with so much joy he nearly tossed the book across the room again. The others were so relieved that finally this had been resolved so quickly, they hardly even noticed his shout, let alone to question yet why she was there.

"Yes, yes, yes!" James kept repeating over and over, a ridiculously stupid smile stuck in place as suddenly all their worries before just seemed silly now. Even their kid couldn't get into all the trouble they'd been imagining because of such a sideways scenario.

"And thank Merlin," Lily breathed in agreement, she didn't fancy the idea of that being decided any farther away from the school than was necessary.

Remus still couldn't help one more uneasy laugh, whoever would have thought he'd find a train menacing.

"A dead ferret," Sirius vowed, Malfoy would pay for this, surely someone would see to that!

"I'd hope not," James sniffed. If there was anything not funny, they'd certainly found it.

Harry looked a little dumbfounded he so clearly thought this, he'd been sure at least him or Sirius would get a chuckle out of it eventually.

"Oh dear," Lily murmured, in unease again at once. Considering all Tonks had just done for Harry they all hated the idea there was something so clearly wrong with the bubbly girl they'd first

been introduced to. She again worried about the poor dear's health, that maybe that fight at the Ministry had done something permanent to her and she truly was sick with something.

"Last I checked she couldn't fold socks, not sure I'd trust her with something so vital as my face," Sirius tried to crack a grin again, though it fell flat with everyone still uneasy about what Harry had just avoided and at immediately falling into worry about a girl they didn't even really know.

"Well Tonks is a trained Auror," Remus defended half-heartedly, both Sirius and Harry still looking like they agreed with this, but Tonks deserved this credit. "Give her a break, I'm sure she's

plenty good at her job, aside from stumbling over her boots now and again."

"Let's hope her aim doesn't rely on her balance then, I'd not like all my cartilage removed this time," Harry huffed, easily ignoring whatever was wanting to make him laugh about Remus

vouching for Tonks like that.

"Ooh, wonder what her Patronus is," Sirius said at once with high curiosity, he loved knowing about those.

"If I would have guessed before that, Peacock," James snickered, easily imagining the girl turning into a brightly colored bird.**

"It does make one wonder though, if she chose to be an Animagus, could she change that animals coloring at will," Remus' mind at once began spinning curiously to all the possibilities her biology would offer to other means of magic. "What of Polyjuice Potion? Or simply Charms in general meant to change your physical appearance? Would the effects simply not work on her physically,

or she'd hide them well enough?"

Lily looked highly interested as well, she certainly didn't know of many studies done with this considering Metamorphmagus were so rare, but Sirius interrupted the pair, "I will never understand you're mind! I asked one bloody question and you go on a full essay about the woman!"

"It's interesting, I'm sorry it's not about snogging some broad or you might have a care as well," Remus said a little snappy, what was the harm?

"Hurtful," Sirius rolled his eyes, "and not relevant! She's not hear to be doing this now, so can we remain on subject."

"You just want to hear Harry getting revenge on Malfoy," James pointed out to Remus rolling his eyes right back.

"Well he could have just said that," Remus conceded, he did want to hear that too.

Lily interrupted this time just to tick all of the boys off, "I honestly hope Dumbledore's working on developing that method of communication now, I can't wait to learn it."

Sirius groaned loudly and tired to keep going around her no matter how much he agreed.

"Guess I should be relieved," Harry muttered, though his mind was now on the curious topic of how even Tonks had noticed and found him, but he kept his mouth shut in hopes he'd ask her.

"Thank Merlin the woman does her job," Lily sighed in relief, they were all feeling the same for that deduction.

"I'm sure he's just thrilled with the assignment," James snorted.

"I remember well, her and Moony would get along swimmingly," Sirius rolled his eyes while Remus made a face at him, it wasn't that uncommon a trait. Sirius could get that way as well when

he pulled his head out of his arse.

"Ironically, that's nothing like me," Sirius tried to grin, though it was soured a bit as he wondered like the rest why the change. Surely it wasn't about him? He really hadn't thought they'd gotten on that well...

Lily made a loud little tisking noise to hide her clutched throat for the reminder, speaking quickly to cover that, "would it really take Hermione's voice? Have you no conscience?"

"It seems to appear as her," Harry uneasily tried to laugh back.

Sirius had to swallow hard around a heavy lump in his throat and even still managed to give Harry a critical eye. His face however was distant, a now familiar look of trying to hold back a memory, and so Sirius hoped that whatever it was his pup wasn't still holding that against himself now. Sirius was sure he'd made himself clear on that front.

Lily did sigh with some disappointment though. Not that she would have been any happier Harry bringing it up, for the successive eighth chapter now, but she'd like some kind of answer for what

was wrong with Tonks if it wasn't that. Even not being able to help the poor dear, it would have been nice to get an answer, maybe some clear hope of helping her before the problem even

started.

"Harry clearly hasn't been to Hogsmeade enough," James mumbled, that idea never not boggling his mind his son didn't know those grounds as well as him.

They all winced, Harry hardest of all, no matter how true it felt. As if they needed more depression in their life.

"I would be genuinely disappointed if it did," Lily pointed out while the perplexed look on Harry's face turned agitated.

"I wouldn't recommend that," James snorted softly, both parents enjoying that look growing on Harry as he was clearly expecting an answer from them as well as Tonks any second.

"An option, though pointless as you know she's already sent a message," Sirius tacked on while Harry heavily rolled his eyes at the lot of them, glad they were getting their kicks in.

James was just baffled why Harry wasn't silently thinking of getting into the castle through at least two of the entrances he knew of down in Hogsmeade.

"The man's truly a delight if you don't think about him," Remus agreed sarcastically, none of them forgetting he should have been sacked after what he'd tried to pull last year. They'd be as

disappointed to hear of him again as they would if Snape had been back.

Sirius' mouth sagged open in shocked disgust, and they all sat like that for a few moments before Lily shook herself out of it, "seems we were wrong on all accounts," with a still snide mutter. She of course didn't hold the position the rest of the boys did, whom had all blamed Snape at least in some part for the events in last year. They'd all accused him of delaying passing along what Harry had told, not trusting Snape to be of any help. Lily vehemently disagreed he'd never sherk such a duty, but it didn't mean she was looking forward to another year of his mouth.

"What is he even doing there!" James demanded, looking physically ill as the news of this chapter never seemed to get better for a single moment! "Slughorn took that joke he referred to as a job!

Unless he's actually replaced Filch, and honestly even that laugh isn't worth this!"

Their minds scattered, and then Remus went a pasty color in shock. He bit his lip hard to stop himself blurting out what had occurred to him, but a quick look around showed he didn't need to

say it either. There was only one other vacant position in the castle that they knew of...

"No!" James snapped in outrage of his own question. "There's just no way he got the DA job!"

"I mean, at some point, when there's literally only one person who will do it," Lily sighed, her hands twisting painfully in her lap. Snape had said he'd never had it before because Dumbledore

thought it would bring back his darker side. It didn't feel like a good omen he'd finally been given that chance now of all times, when that was more in question than ever.

Sirius still made one last guttural noise of frustration, they really just couldn't have one nice thing! Their hope of the two most irritating people in this castle being gone this year had been ruined back to back, and his bad mood lingered more than ever for all this happening around Harry.

"It somehow made you look worse," Remus snarked, "I don't blame Harry."

"Why did you even bother?" Sirius sighed.

"I was still surprised it was him, though Filch wouldn't have listened either, so I honestly don't know." Harry sighed.

"If we wanted him back with a body bag!" James sneered.

Lily's hand twitched, looking very close to smacking him for that one, but restrained herself purely because her mind was hovering on something else, something she was not looking forward to the

boys realizing but had her rather worried all the same.

"You can have a new Patronus?" Harry interrupted in surprise.

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment before saying slowly, "it has been known to happen, when a great emotion comes along you've never experienced before. Something that would change your very soul," he finished with an uneasy frown, all of their worries greater than ever for what Tonks was going through.

They all tensed for that hateful comment, wishing to throw a curse at such a thing being said to a woman clearly going through something traumatic! Harry in particular as for some reason he felt that was a slight against more than Tonks, not that this made any sense.

Lily gave one last uneasy sigh for her as well, very much hoping the next time she was seen things would somehow be going better for her, someone deserved it by now.

"I'm actually quite sure he can, he feeds off that after all," Sirius stated.

"Was there any chance of that before?" James asked, a bit dumbfounded Harry would think otherwise.

"After all Dumbledore said for the man, maybe, but not now." Yet even as Harry said the words the conviction just wouldn't hold, no matter how much force he put into them. He felt fuzzy, his

tongue a bit swollen for saying that, and flattened his hair in agitation his own instincts could never make any sense.

Sirius sighed deeply for that, but looked up with the faint hope he wouldn't find the same thing still mirrored onto his pup now. To his relief, he was certainly holding himself together enough to prove otherwise. He met Sirius' eyes and tried for a smile, even put up a flippant tone, "I know, I know." It was slightly maddening Sirius honestly couldn't tell though if that was just residual grief holding him back, or he was trying to hide that his own guilt weighed on him as much as he blamed Snape.

Lily couldn't help but open her mouth reprovingly, she couldn't judge Harry for whatever he was feeling to cope but she certainly wished he'd find a healthier way of it-

but after hearing that, all that came out was a grumble of agreement. Of course Sirius wouldn't be any better if roles were reversed, but the difference was Sirius wouldn't hang around and taunt everyone around him, making their lives just as miserable for it as Snape so constantly did to Harry.

Harry mock raised his hands in triumph, though a genuine smile did appear when James looked just a bit proud, saying, "couldn't have done better myself! You find the best ways to tick off that

tick."

"Remember when he was a first year fretting over five points," Lily sighed in pity her boy turned into such a rebellious snot, though she was hardly any better. She knew she would have been

egging a teacher to do more as well if they were going to be such an arse to her for circumstances like this. It's not as if Snape knew Harry had got himself into the trouble, he just assumed it.

Rightly so in this case, but entirely not the point.

"More like send him back to London in that position," Remus huffed, why hadn't they ever thought of that?

"Yes, because that's something we've seen him strive to do every other year!" James mocked.

"How he survived all summer without you is anyone's guess, though I still wish he hadn't," Sirius snarled.

Lily's face was flushed red with hatred as much as the boys for Snape treating Harry like this, the man could clearly never learn his lesson that those hateful statements having consequences!

"No shame, honestly," Remus rolled his eyes heavily for kids doing that.

"Yes, but at least he has a right," Sirius sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be any more fun to hear about the second time.

"He's getting as vain as Fleur," Remus half heartedly poked fun.

"I can't even blame you, I wouldn't even be wanting to tell Ron and Hermione," James agreed.

"Trust that, please," Lily sighed, knowing Hermione was one to nag, but surely Harry had earned enough trust if it was vitally important he'd have shared. He could understand her worry of course, but hoped Hermione would trust his word more.

"Right," Sirius drew the word out with a concerned look at Harry. He was very sure he was joking, but even still, the truth wasn't much better than that ghastly scenario that would only cause

further questions. "Credit for trying to spin a tale though," he offered.

Lily clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, her son often seemed to miss the fact those two houses could very well be friends thank you.

"Honestly, not even a bad reward for the day," Remus sighed, remembering trips where he'd wished he wouldn't be woken up until the pudding started.

"How on Earth do you manage to miss that three separate times?" James muttered to himself, he'd enjoyed every one.

"Right, because that's always just a casual conversation," Sirius snarked, even knowing better made his mind want to blame Harry's late appearance and bloodied nose on that dingbat.

"How dare he show favoritism! It's as if he let a first year onto the house team!" James smirked.

They all looked surprised at this show, but then Sirius deduced, "I'll bet she's putting on a bit of a show after last year, prove she's still around while the toad isn't," he finished viciously.

"I'm sure only you would do something like that," Lily rolled her eyes at him without admitting she wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

"Thank you for reminding me of that, I'm back to wondering whether I should outright kill her or just shove her in a closet for the immediate future," James sneered.

"About bloody time," they all sighed in relief. While occasionally amusing, that had been far more grating that anything.

"You never did finish that midnight duel," Sirius sneered. "Challenge him again and see how it goes!"

"And let him pull another slip on me with Filch," Harry disagreed. "I'd have to do it somehow publicly, otherwise he'd always find a way to duck out."

"Cowardly little ferret," James seethed.

Harry huffed and grumbled a bit about that somehow making it no more important to him, but held the worst of it back like he had at the time.

Then his face smoothed and relaxed into a calm grin, happy to know that his conversation at the end of last year hadn't left them on uneasy terms.

"Well he's not wrong," Sirius laugh outright at this, though Harry was unsure if he meant Ron or Nick.

"I'm sure it's hard not to," Lily murmured, even picturing it was rather difficult and would surely stand out.

"Yes, because that's always instantly put people at ease," Remus rolled his eyes.

Harry squirmed uncomfortably as well, not at all reassured no one in here could offer much comfort for this.

All three Marauders gasped, looking personally affronted for this, while Lily burst out giggling not only at their faces, but the imagined pride the twins would surely carry their products were that infuriating to the old caretaker.

No one in here even had the good mood to rub in they'd known better. If they'd been able to think ahead far enough, they may have even desperately started hoping he'd come back to teach a new subject, better him for the DA job than Snivellus! The only place he belonged was down in the dungeons!

Harry sighed and slumped back into his seat, the news being confirmed didn't make it any better to hear the second time.

"You hadn't a need to ask," Lily agreed with a sigh on that lapse. "Though now I am going back and wondering all over again why he wouldn't have mentioned this."

"Guess he figured Harry would find out soon enough, stopped him asking the question and getting an early answer he'd just bad mouth," James wisely thought through, knowing exactly that's how it would have gone.

Sirius' disgusted sneer went suddenly blank at that, then a high pitched giggle escaped, which quickly turned into outright laughter.

The others waited impatiently for that to subside, but Sirius hardly did, still a little breathless as he exalted, "Snape got the DA job!" Finally working past his frustration of that man still being around, he could look ahead once again, and all but dance in place, "which means that our celebrating his departure only came one year early!"

The news struck them fast after that, Harry and James high fiving with excitement and Remus bursting into snickers only just more restrained than Sirius had before. Lily rolled her eyes and

pressed her lips together to stop herself snapping at the lot of them. She wasn't going to pretend to be happy for this, but she wouldn't deny either it would honestly be nice to go one year

without hearing him gloat over her boy, she'd just have to wait one more year for it.

"What'll you think it'll be!?" Remus demanded, his voice still a bit high from laughter. "Never had a repeat event, so we can sadly rule out being Obliviated, though that's still my favorite."

"Really? I quite liked the idea of locking him in a trunk and his voluntary retirement after that," James smirked.

"Dumbledore's never sacked anyone before. Maybe we'll finally get lucky and Dumbledore'll do away with him himself," Sirius' hand twitched eagerly to flip to the back already and find that one

out, though he restrained himself by the barest amount as he reminded himself that could potentially hurt Harry.

Harry gave an uneasy laugh of agreement to all of the above, but that squirming unease from before only intensified in him, and he had to quickly beat down the feeling lest they notice too much. It wasn't working, his mother certainly noticed and her worry increased just what would happen to Snape at the end of the year to cause that expression, but Sirius certainly hadn't noticed and kept going with the first hint of joy he'd ever had for one of Snape's classes. He'd be able to spend them all thinking up new ways to get that man out of the castle permanently.

"I'm pleased how quickly you grasped on that," Sirius beamed with pride at him.

"Always has been able to pick up on the important things," James agreed proudly.

Remus couldn't stop the involuntary snort, while James and Sirius outright laughed again and Lily huffed at all these idiots. He'd never gotten quite that bad, though at some of his lowest points she couldn't pretend she hadn't wanted to hex him herself. Just nothing irreversible.

"Argh! Ron, don't try to ruin this!" James demanded.

"Besides, no previous teacher has ever tried to stay at the school before either, surely Snape couldn't manage that," Sirius agreed with a slightly bitter tint in his words at the end while trying not to glance at Moony. He liked Hagrid, but surely he might have stepped down for a more qualified person, and it wouldn't have killed Remus to stick around for that one at least. He'd thought this and so many other options for him though since the revelation he forced himself to keep going past it rather than dwell on it again.

"I'm truly shocked he didn't stop to say, told you so," James rolled his eyes.

"I'm quite sure that's exactly what he's thinking," James huffed, imagining taking his nose off again for the dozenth time already in retribution.

The four from this time sighed, that was much more like how their start of terms had gone, all warnings and dire cautions. It really had been a pleasure skipping those in Harry's time.

"I always loved how he actually managed to say that without sarcasm," Remus couldn't help a little smile as Sirius no where near managed the same.

"It's nice to know she ranks that higher than my nose," Harry gave a slight smile at the remembered look she'd flashed him before doing this, he was not out yet from explaining himself

with her.

"Or he was just infuriated like the rest of us at that blighters existence," James seethed, the anger from that not yet dissipated enough to be surprised Harry would think otherwise.

"Well, Ron is that to," Sirius chuckled while Harry's agitation at his friends denial of this only grew.

"I've been doing it for years now, even Ron stopped flinching every single time," Harry said in exasperation.

"I can imagine some will never get used to it though," Lily shrugged with some defense, though it was an oddity in itself to picture someone like Hagrid afraid of anything, let alone a name.

Harry frowned at first in concern. Even knowing Hagrid could take care of himself just fine didn't make the idea of his friend in the Forest with those Centaurs a happy thought.

"I, can imagine," Lily said slowly, clearly trying to build up a warm, happy voice for this, but the idea a giant was so close to the school still gave her head a bit of a spin.

James and Sirius were just happy it was out of their Forest.

"Sounds like his English has improved," Remus said in an honestly congratulatory voice, unlike the others who were still just trying to picture such a thing.

"I'm sure Hermione will be so disappointed to learn her nickname hadn't stuck," Sirius snickered.

"That would be a sight," James got a laugh out of that.

"Far more than I could have managed," Sirius shook his head.

"Why?" Lily asked in surprise.

"Oh," they all muttered in surprise, that hadn't crossed their minds.

"Well I'm sure Hagrid will understand," Lily said at once. "You just don't have any drive to further advance yourself in that class, you hardly a need for the extra work."

"Right," Harry muttered, still a bit red faced with shame, it felt like a betrayal to his friend no matter his intentions.

James sighed. The one time he wouldn't have laughed at the girl taking an unneeded class, if anyone could have handled that it would have been her, and he could see how it would offend

Hagrid just slightly less if all three of them hadn't dropped it.

"I finished," Sirius said, shoving the book to Harry with honest relief. That chapter had been nothing but rotten from start to finish, hopefully his pup would get something a little better.

HPHPHPHP

*Getting caught on the Astronomy tower and the subsequent detention, going to save the Stone, going to see Aragog, Snape took it in front of the Whomping Willow, nearly getting caught with his egg, and sneaking into Umbridge's office only to get caught by Umbridge.

Using it to go see Hagrid, but he got arrested that night, but they didn't get caught, so I'll count that as good, getting in and out of Hogsmeade in PoA, and to sneak out and go see Hagrid in GoF, plus using it to leave the Durlseys as extra precaution in five is technically a useful/ good thing. Oh, he technically sneaks into Umbrdige's office twice, but got away with it the first time talking to Sirius and Remus, so that's a good.

Technically seven to five.I had some instances pointed out to me, and James is no longer a pessimist, I just can't count.

Harry using it in GoF just to avoid the school before his dragon task is kind of a good thing but not outright helpful, same as all the other times he randomly uses it through four. I'm honestly at a toss for the mirror, that's a bit of both bad and good. Counting the others total, Harry using it to spy on Snape and Malfoy later is mutual not good or bad as it doesn't amount to much in the end, I don't count him using it to get to the Infiri lake since that would have happened with or without

the cloak since he was with Dumbledore, same as all the uses in DH. Only one of those comes to saving him while he's under it with both of his friends, so that's seven for six, though he did use it in the end to literally go die, so the final tally would be eight to seven.

Let me know if you think that should be swayed in either direction.

Ron or Hermione using it by themselves doesn't count for this, but they did both get away with it their solo times, seems it's just Harry who has bad luck with it like everything else. This is the longest * I've ever had, but the most fun to, counting all that up.

** Actually it was a Jack Rabbit, funnily enough, before it changed. Luna's is a Hare, which deeply amuses me, since I wish we'd gotten a scene of them together. Their personalities would

have been great to play off of each other.


	9. THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Harry flipped unenthusiastically to the start of his chapter. He couldn't say this was the worst start to his term, but things weren't going so well either. At least he had the ability to hope, considering his company. No matter how long he was in their presence, he knew that would never go away.

"She didn't wait up for you after escorting the first years up there?" Lily asked in surprise.

"Obviously not," Sirius snorted.

"Why?" James rolled his eyes. Ron trying so hard to play this off was just a tad insulting.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged, that grumpy look lingering in place. "Suppose he didn't want Hermione to think he was encouraging me."

"She's not wrong on any of that," Sirius said fairly. Remus huffed so quietly only Sirius had heard, and he supposed both he and Prongs might still be a little sore about the last time Hermione hadn't believed Harry.

"Subtle," Lily drew the word out pointedly, her hand twitching for her wand while she fought back a shout for them all to mind their own business.

"Why do people bother with that hand thing?" James snapped of no one. "It does no good!"

"They like to pretend they're being subtle, not everyone can pull off our magnificence Prongs," Sirius stated.

"If he chooses to never do any homework, than sure," Remus said with pity.

"Well it's the first day back-" Sirius began to agree, before the start to Harry's last year held his tongue from saying anything else.

Sirius threw Remus a fond smile, who in turn shook his head indulgently. Lily rolled her eyes and Harry chuckled lightly, he didn't need to ask, the remisent air between all three of them for that exchange didn't need words.

"Wasn't she the one that giggled along at everything," Lily asked, wondering why that had been mentioned at all.

"Except in Trelawney's class, then she believed every morbid word," Harry agreed without concern even if he did feel a flicker of annoyance far heavier than this should have called for.

"Can't even blame him, that kind of attention's always valued," Sirius agreed.

"I guess I can kind of see why he'd think that," Remus scrunched up his face in thought, "but outside of class you've never made it clear that's what it was. I'm sure Hagrid will be an adult

about this and just understand you didn't need it."

"Now he's being ridiculous," Sirius couldn't help but scoff at that idea. "There's any number of reasons you'd continue that class, careers for one thing that involve the grade."

"Liking of the class as well,: Remus insisted, knowing he'd have been one.

"Oh come now, not everyone could hate it," Remus insisted. "I've admitted some of Hagrid's ideas were," he faltered, not able to come up with the right word for testing out a new species on a

bunch of fourth years, but gallantly continued, "but I'd certainly happily have continued with the class! He's got a unique way of teaching."

Harry gave Remus a sideways look, but was surprised to find he honestly seemed to mean that. Harry supposed then there could have been others outside of his class who may fancy it, just none

that he'd known.

"That still won't be a fun conversation no matter what," Lily sighed, hoping Hagrid would understand, he'd always been good about that in the past.

"Don't even know why she waited around," James smirked. "No teacher would question why she walked into class."

Lily beamed, remembering her worry from the train how Neville could only focus on his least good grades. She did wish Harry had heard him say this, or that he'd even said it.

"Really? I thought Snape only allowed O's," Harry heavily rolled his eyes, despite his pride Neville had done so good in that exam.

"Maybe a stipulation from Dumbledore was he had to accept that grade as well, it's a class a large majority of people do need still," Sirius speculated, though his preference would have been if Snape had just never gotten the bloody job.

"I'm surprised Augusta never made him retake the exam," James said bitingly.

"Probably enjoying the attention he got too much and realized too late," Remus snipped.

Lily scowled and bite her tongue to convince herself not to snap about that again.

Sirius let out a deep bark of triumphant laughter that was echoed throughout the room. Augusta shouldn't have to be told that, but what they would give to make her hear it.

"Tis a genuine rarity," Remus agreed with a sad little smile, wishing Neville heard them far more often. Harry still didn't seem any more used to it either.

"He still on about her?" James demanded shrewdly. "By this point Neville should be aware speaking her opinions isn't getting him anywhere."

"Seems it's all he knows, her opinions," Harry sighed quietly. He'd certainly been that way through his young life at the Dursleys before Hagrid.

Lily didn't bother to contain her triumphant laugh anymore than Sirius had, all but beaming for this child finally hearing something like that.

"I must confess just one slight disappointment to this," Sirius' lighthearted tone held nothing of the sort. "She gave him an extra class! To prove a point mind you, but the homework!"

"Worth it," Remus stated, knowing he'd have done exactly the same.

James scoffed heavily, good to know where her priorities were.

James had been absently listening to the part of the conversation he'd been well aware of, but now beamed all over again at the news. He couldn't wait to hear how Harry handled those! It would be as good as any game he'd played! Probably better, since it should be hard for even his son's life to be at risk at something like tryouts.

"Savor the idea of them while they last," Sirius sighed in agreement.

"It all happens so fast," James agreed with a wistful smile at his son, his own age, and Harry felt a guilty flash as he realized his dad wasn't all talking about Quidditch in that moment.

"What happens if all the old team had graduated?" Harry asked quickly in hopes of changing the subject.

"Never happened," James easily shrugged like his mind had never been anywhere else except the pitch. "Seems a tad ridiculous, a whole team made up of nothing but seventh years. Some years

there wouldn't even be enough to form a team."

"He's got her there," Sirius nodded easily, this having been exactly what Prongs had said when someone had made the snide comment about Sirius not having to try out at their team.

"Maybe she should have been made Captain," Harry muttered for himself, having no confidence in himself as he at once felt like giving his own best mate a guilty look.

"Don't be ridiculous Harry!" James was clearly scandalized at the comment. "You're going to have a blast with this, you'll see!"

His absolutely assured tone meant Harry couldn't possibly do anything but smile back.

"I feel like Hermione's being her usual self," Lily's brows crept up in worry. "There's just no way possible all that was assigned for two days from then."

"There's an argument they actually never had," Harry mock laughed.

Lily clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, trying hard not to direct that at Harry. Was such a nasty description really needed three times in one book? She wasn't particularly fond of him of late either, but there were limits of what was needed.

"Dark and heartless?" Sirius offered.

"Don't be ridiculous Padfoot, you turn into a dog, not a parrot," James smirked over at him, while Sirius didn't at all look upset about mimicking the book.

Remus made a snide comment under his breath, causing Sirius to snicker. James grumbled he was too far away to be in on the joke, while one look at their expressions had Lily thankful for the

same.

"Remember when he used to yell at us for not taking the initiative to copy down every bloody word he said," Harry groused.

"When have you ever been denied that?" James asked innocently enough, though both Harry and Lily gave him a frown for that reminder they didn't need.

All five of them made a face right back for this.

"Why on Earth did he only recount the ones from my years," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Didn't want to say the number seven thousand I suppose," Sirius shrugged without concern. "Every year it had to get more grating to him," he finished with a satisfied smirk.

"How old do you think this curse is?" Remus asked more curious than anything for Sirius' exaggeration.

Sirius shrugged without concern, his point still stood.

"All thanks to Harry," James primly boasted.

"Dad," Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation, sure he really hadn't done more than help them all along than what they all thought. He was ignored, James' proud smile not dimming more than

anyone else's.

"I still find it a miracle anyone passed their Potions OWL's," Remus huffed, knowing that threat was going to be as literal as it could get.

James and Sirius were just surprised Snape hadn't made yet another snide comment about Moony, yet.

"Just call it a hydra you blithering monotone!" Sirius sneered.

"Honestly, he does have to make everything sound oh so important," Remus huffed in agreement.

There was an ugly twist to the lips of the Marauders, Harry uneasily noticed, and his mum nibbling at her lip with a distant look in her eye. Harry wondered how many times they'd all seen

this developing in Snape's youth, how this speech probably wasn't at all unfamiliar to those growing up with future Death Eaters.

Lily couldn't help a small smile for that though, knowing she was the only one but grateful all the same he'd moved on to the importance of this class.

Harry shivered uneasily, not meeting anyone's eyes. Snape just had to put that one up there, to constantly remind him for the next year what he'd once lived through.

Sirius' skin went sallow. Even now that the threat had been taken from his future life, the reminder it had once had lingered so long over him would not pass soon.

"He actually managed to answer her without an insult thrown in!" James brows flew up into his hairline. "Glory, he must be in a good mood!"

"I give it another five minutes to last, he'll throw some tripe at Harry soon," Sirius huffed.

"Mildly better than calling her a know-it-all again," Harry grumbled.

"Whew, I was starting to worry about another teacher being replaced," James mock wiped his brow in relief at the renewed insults to his son.

"Not yet sure if I wouldn't prefer Fake-Eye," Remus grumbled, mostly kidding, but at least he'd still been more helpful to Harry's survival before trying to kill him.

Sirius let out a surprised whistle, they all looked rather impressed with this except Harry, who thought by now that would have worn off on them.

"I'm sure she'll get it from every other teacher in the following classes," James assured with a chuckle.

"You could still be practicing while waiting," Remus offered helpfully. "Even helps yourself to hold onto the spell, build up resilience."

Harry gave him a light smile, once again wishing for the dozenth time Professor Lupin had never left.

All three boys burst out laughing with surprise for that, while Lily's teeth sank into her lip again, knowing that wasn't going to go over well.

James snorted so violently he was sure his own nose had been broken, Sirius dissolved into mirthless laughter at once and would not be upright without the support of the sofa, and Remus

gave Harry an appreciative nod, "you tell 'em Harry."

To Harry's greatest surprise though, his mother laughed hardest of all, holding her sides for several moments before beaming with pride at her sharp tongued boy. She couldn't have done better

herself in giving such a reply to a teacher who deserved it.

It took Harry a moment to even remember he was supposed to keep going. He rarely felt he deserved their praise, but in this instance of his sassing a teacher, he actually just wanted to linger as long as he could on that smirk in place.

"Smarmy bloke," Remus sighed, fighting back the impulse to do the opposite and award Harry house points he deserved as much as Hermione.

"Never could take a joke," Sirius agreed, still in between mirthless laughter. He'd never enjoyed Harry's snark as much as he was in this moment.

Lily brushed her hair out of her face, her laughter finally subsiding enough to frown at them. Snape had laughed at plenty of her jokes, and it saddened her to once again realize just how much he'd changed, where once he would have been laughing as hard as them if she'd done such a thing.

The outrage bursting out of Harry was clear enough even before he'd finished, he didn't need to hear the others shock to continue in hopes she had a very good explanation for this that still wouldn't justify comparing him to that bat!

"Many people have said the same thing in a new way," Remus contradicted, though it was in a more kindly tone than either of his friends could have managed, sounding more like he wanted to

gently debate the subject with Hermione. "That does not necessarily mean those two are of the same mind, a very simple thought could be taken over a dozen different ways."

"So, don't insult Harry again," Sirius concluded.

Lily huffed and glared at all four of them, was it really such a terrible thing? There had been a time where she would have beamed if her boy turned into anything like her old friend. Not so much

now, she'd admit, but it didn't have to be a blanket insult.

Lily giggled in surprise as Harry's faint blush appeared in here as well.

"Wasn't he the one that knocked himself out with is own bat?" Sirius said in remembered disgust.

"How he even got on in the first place is still a mystery," James sighed.

"Can't even blame you, I wouldn't care what he wanted the schedule to be either," James muttered, only marginally more invested in whatever this was Dumbledore was up to.

"Oh yes, got to watch McGonagall put a shrew in place, and then I in turn did the same," Sirius agreed enthusiastically.

"As if he won't demand it be rearranged," James rolled his eyes.

"Because that's so much better," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus stayed quite, not really thinking it was any of that, but baffled what it could be nonetheless.

"What was the essay over?" Remus asked with far to much curiosity as far as Sirius and James were concerned. They could never sound so caring about something labeled as homework.

"The Theory of Nonverbal Spells and Their Impractical Uses," Harry huffed, his brain still getting a little sore at trying to read through texts about that.

Sirius couldn't help it, Snape's essay or not, the topic did light his intrigue and he opened his mouth to offer up something, but Harry hadn't noticed and kept going.

James couldn't help but snort at all the flashbacks that caused, they'd said many a same thing about him.

Remus clucked his tongue and rolled his eyes, some things never changed, while Lily giggled just a bit at thinking the exact same.

"Amortentia," Lily said at once, though only Harry had looked to her for an answer.

James in particular had an unnaturally grumpy look on his face, still remembering the sting of his son thinking he'd used a love potion on his wife, or some other way for them to be together. He

wasn't fond of them at the moment at any rate.

Harry couldn't properly explain it, but he felt a sharp tingling tracing up his spine for this. It was ridiculous of course, he'd just been given some old things, nothing was going to come of that.

"You learn to duck fast in that class," Sirius smirked, and Harry wasn't entirely sure if he was kidding or speaking from experience.

"Veritaserum," Lily sighed, not appreciating the reminder of what Snape had once threatened to use on Harry, and in turn used to interrogate someone still that same year.

"Can't hardly forget that one," Harry's nose again crinkled in remembered disgust.

Lily sighed in exasperation, that one still blew her mind.

"Wonder why," Sirius said with honest interest, it's not as if it was really that revealing.

"Would make his day to find another pureblood he could kiss up to," James sniffed.

"Instead he gets to meet another Lily," Sirius rolled his eyes while she flushed and glared at the pair.

'Ah, good memories,' all of the boys were smirking again at once, thinking something similar.

"That, Harry gave the compliment and not him?" Remus asked in confusion. Harry shrugged, he had no clue of that reaction either.

"Sounds like he's speaking from experience," Harry said in surprise. He didn't often think about a teachers home life, but did suddenly wonder if Slughorn had been leaving more than old students in his trail of houses.

"I can't say for sure," Lily said with a bit of dignity, she didn't like to pry into her teachers lives.

Harry shifted with that feeling all over again, he really didn't like he had one for all four of those potions, though all for varying reasons. He glanced hopefully at his mum, seeing at once she recognized it, and wasn't disappointed. "Felix Felicis. Highly dangerous if brewed just a tiny bit incorrectly, poisonous if taken regularly, but Merlin does it have some effect on the world."

The faint blush she ended with had all of the boys turning to look at her in the end though, James asked slowly, "Lily, did you happen to ever use some?"

She feigned as if she hadn't heard, giggling in a girlish way Harry hadn't really seen quite yet. However, she refused to elaborate, and waved her son on. He only grudgingly did so when a solid ten minutes of her husbands pestering proved futile.

"Is that all it took," James grumbled, huffier than usual with one eye still on his wife, who still kept breaking out into snickers.

"Nah, I'm confident that one's real," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Hope Hermione uses it for something good," James grumbled, still giving his wife a pouting look she wouldn't acknowledge.

"A phrase you'll never hear Snape accomplish," Remus smirked.

"Least we know he can't bribe his way into it," James finally stopped eyeing the red head to sneer at the book.

"His will probably be the worst attempt, he never had to try in that class," Sirius agreed.

Lily tisked, she'd found by the end of the first year what an advantage and disadvantage that could be. It truly was sad Harry was still picking up on such things years too late.

"Oh," Lily blinked at that.

"What?" James asked curiously, hoping she'd at least answer one question today.

"That'll work extremely well, seems this book gives very good advice, instead of just nonsense like Harry was thinking," Lily said, but there was a curious look on her face. There weren't many people who knew that trick.

Harry's surprised little smile about made Lily's day. It was high time he finally saw the good this class could offer.

Lily's brows disappeared right into her hairline now. How many students would have spent the time to figure that out, and wrote them down in an old potions textbook?

"Why'd she snap if she didn't want to hear the answer?" Sirius laughed hard at Hermione's temper showing like that.

"What do you lot make of this?" Harry demanded, the eagerness in his voice far more than the Marauders understood.

"Some barmy kid was actually good at potions and took notes," Remus shrugged without concern.

"Probably blew a potion or two in their face trying," Sirius added with a smirk.

"Likely dumped the thing when they realized no one cared," James finished with an eye roll.

Lily pressed her lips together to stop herself laughing again. She still wasn't quite convinced yet, but those boys had just described a large amount of time in her youth, with her best friend, except that last part.

Lily couldn't help it now, her buoyant mood wouldn't keep the laugh contained, but the boys gave it no thought. Of course she'd be happy Harry was finally enjoying her favorite class.

"I don't get it," Harry said, glancing from the book in his lap to his mum. "Why would mine be better than Hermione's, if she's following all the instructions?"

"Hermione's about to learn a hard lesson about Potioneering," Lily happily explained. "Of course if you follow the instructions you'll get your desired Potion, Hermione's drought would have

caused the same endless sleep as yours. However, because the previous owner spent the time to ruminate, perfect, tweak the potion even, your affects will be longer lasting, and much stronger. Potions are the only magic meant to be tampered with, carefully of course," she finished with a rueful hand down her bright hair.

Harry wondered how many times she'd singed it off by tweaking a potion. She certainly seemed very keen on the idea, and while Harry knew she'd liked the subject before, he'd never seen her so

serious on it as she was now.

Lily laughed harder than she meant to, really getting the boys attention now, but still she shook her head, not willing to admit yet what was on her mind. She really wasn't even sure what their

reaction would be, and for now they just looked bemused, so she'd take that as long as she could.

"It's not cheating," James rolled his eyes at once. Of course Hermione would be ticked her way hadn't worked.

"So Harry got a better instruction manual, according to Lily, that means someone out there could still do the Potion even better the next time," Sirius agreed.

"Why was he looking that far ahead?" Remus chuckled in surprise, but answered his own question in his head. At the point Ron realized he wasn't winning, he supposed he would have started flipping through pages out of boredom.

Sirius burst out laughing in surprise at that. "I suppose Ginny spends a lot of time out in the gardens?"

Harry didn't really answer, just a muttered agreement, his mind felt suddenly loose from his body at her sudden appearance and he tried to shake that off, unsuccessfully.

"Oh," James murmured, all the humor vanishing almost at once from the room. That wasn't something nearly as fond to be remembered, the poor girl probably still had nightmares about that.

"Yes, if the book's evil, that makes it okay it outsmarted you," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Can it?" Sirius asked with only mild sarcasm. "That would have made reading them some actual fun sometimes."

"Bit more a challenge, couldn't hurt," James agreed.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise, a harsh thump like before pressing in on him leaving no doubt he should know that name, recognize it to see it meant something.

He was distracted at once though by his mother throwing her head back laughing.

HPHPHPHP

*This potion is one of the more common complaints I've seen of the HP world, and I think people forget this line in particular. It's not common, would take Hermione ages to make, and would be extremely dangerous to use consecutively to get a job done. I like that magic clearly has limits and downsides in this world, it makes it more real to me, instead of everything just having an easy solution if you take one bit of the answer and ignore the rest.


	10. THE HOUSE OF GUANT

Now James knew he was missing a joke, and he never appreciated that, not even from his beloved wife. She continued in uncontrollable giggles for a solid ten minutes before he cracked and asked her, again, "what is so funny?" Like before, she merely pressed her lips together tight, but still didn't have back full control of her voice when she answered, "you wouldn't get it, promise. Old joke, I'm honestly over reacting." Finishing did seem to draw her up short, and she looked away from all of them now, no longer smiling.

She wasn't even sure herself why she wouldn't tell them. It certainly had nothing to do with Severus himself, she couldn't cling anymore to that protective urge to keep the Marauders out of their life, a life they hadn't shared in a very long time now. So what if the boys knew Harry had happened upon Snape's old Potions book, they probably would find it ironically funny after they were done bad-mouthing him yet again. Still the words wouldn't come, in explanation for them or herself, and so was relieved when Remus gave in first as she knew he would. The other three boys had a terrible habit of being nosy in all things, thinking they could find out the answer to anything. At least Remus respected when someone didn't want to answer a question, something she genuinely valued right now.

Sirius at least still found that hilarious, releasing Lily from his curious look to snicker at that some more. Harry had found the best way ever to cheat, though he was quite sure if Slughorn did find out he'd take the book back away, it still wasn't technically doing anything wrong.

Remus got a good chuckle out of that as well, of all the ways Harry had chosen to annoy his friends, he'd picked a book.

"I'm really surprised at Hermione," Sirius said. "I'd have thought she'd murder Harry by now to get herself on a better copy of a book."

"I'm sure she would have, if Harry hadn't shown off with it first," Remus smirked. "Now she's going to stand by her principal."

James didn't acknowledge the pair, still keeping steady eyes on his wife, waiting for her to crack any second. He'd had years of practice.

Lily hardly noticed, she was thinking carefully about this, and found it something she'd never thought of before. Had Snape been teaching his way of Potions for the past years? For now, she

didn't think so, and perhaps he had just been giving instructions straight from the books, hoarding his knowledge of their way over the kids heads. It seemed the type of thing this perversion of her friend would do. It explained why Harry nor his friends would recognize the handwriting as well.

Harry whistled in surprise, also still watching his mum, unable to shake the feeling she really did know the answer. Lily misinterpreted his curious look, or ignored it, and explained, "of course spells can be made up, they all have to start from somewhere."

"How though?" He let himself be sidetracked, giving in himself and letting her play this off however she liked. He could understand not wanting to answer for some things.

"Taking the base root of magic and channeling it into spells is complex, to utilize that further is to begin creating it yourself. For example if there weren't a spell to bring something to you, the ideal way to create one would be to learn in what way your using your magic to repel something from you. In our particular case, as we use Latin, finding the correct combination of words, movement, and power to magic what you're wanting to you would create, well, the summoning spell." Her eyes remained distant through all this, like she was spouting a lecture more than looking at her son for once. "Supposedly other countries would vary of course, and it is why there's different spells

to do one thing. Others found a multitude of ways to accomplish their goals. It's extremely dangerous," she finished cautioning, her eyes far away still, lost in thought, or memories.

Harry was admittedly less fascinated by this than he would have thought, she came across easily as one of his teachers when using that tone, but admitted to himself he'd never before bothered to

question this so thanked her for the answer and asked Remus to go on.

Lily snorted violently, but tried to cover it by clasping her hand to her nose and sniffling as if it had been a sneeze. She fooled no one.

"Thought it was more like a made up name, but the same principle stands, not to many girls would go by that title," Remus agreed absently.

"She could be a bit more helpful to him, he's been on her side a lot this year," Sirius chuckled.

Sirius pressed a hand to his forehead, looking wide-eyed and concerned at his pup. "Did you really almost miss that because you were looking at a book?!"

Harry made a face at him, not sure how to explain his fascination with this. Yet another simple book made him uneasy in a way he couldn't explain, and he was starting to wonder if he'd dismissed Ginny to easily.

"I thought you had your cloak on you at all times?" Sirius asked.

"You should know better than anyone," Harry rolled his eyes, "that jumping to hide behind something is ten times faster than dragging the cloak out of my pocket."

Sirius nodded in agreement, though in his experience he often wondered the castle in it just for shits and giggles to startle other students.

"That was, oddly specific," Remus muttered, more confused than anything.

"Damn, Harry needs to stay away from those cards," Sirius chuckled, though his laughter was a bit strained this time. He still didn't like how eerily accurate Trelawney's predictions were, even when he was out of the picture now.

Both of them burst out laughing that she managed to dismiss herself the one time she'd been so right. The woman's jokes wrote themselves. Lily joined in after a few moments, trying to push the subject away for now, but James hardly noticed, still scrutinizing her.

"Better than the last one," Harry muttered, who would have thought he'd still manage to favor Snape over Umbridge.

James finally looked away from Lily at that, not exactly looking satisfied but engaging his son again, "couldn't be prouder! First starting school points in the negative, now this! You are my

legacy."

The boys all chuckled while Lily scoffed, trying to hide her own smile. None of them could really get too worked up over it, anything other than Umbridge's detentions would be laughable.

"Damn, was hoping I'd just get out of it," Harry sighed, already knowing from last year this wasn't likely.

"I'm sure if you were dueling you wouldn't be doing it in there," Remus corrected, still not convinced that's what this was.

"Like?" Sirius drew the word out impatiently. Remus hadn't meant to hesitate, his mind spinning wildly with curiosity, but quickly kept going before Sirius' impatience really pushed through.

"I think he meant everything relevant to you," Lily offered, though she too was wondering what prompted Dumbledore to continue many months after saying this.

James burst out with surprised laughter, but all of them were looking more curious than ever for this. It wasn't at all what they'd been thinking it was, and more than that, what would Dumbledore have to be guessing at? While clearly not infallible, as his time with Harry had proven to them, but in what way could this help?

Harry didn't even have the urge to crack a smile for the same. He had that feeling, like he was being lied to, but for the life of him couldn't put his finger on what it was about.

"Nope, not going to disagree with that." The snarky tone Remus used still weirded Sirius out, he'd never heard of his friend speak that way about him and it wasn't something he would get used to easily.

"Well I'd bloody hope so," James worked hard not to say this with a scowl. "We certainly don't need him guessing how that cheese cauldron invention worked instead."

They could all see that clearly, and couldn't blame him. So far, no foray into that thing had done much good for his life except depressing the lot of them, James still felt immensely uneasy about his son's reaction to the last one.

"There is a first time for everything," Lily chuckled.

"If he died some time ago, why was he just sitting on these memories? Wouldn't he have looked at them long before now?" Harry asked, knowing he'd been to curious about this to ask Dumbledore

but the idea still seemed odd.

"I wish we did know more about that man's inner workings," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"It's also possible he has already looked at this, and simply extracted it to show you now, giving you a physical representation of the memory," Lily offered a bit more helpfully.

"Why wouldn't he do that first?" James looked baffled, he'd never bothered otherwise.

"Asking until they finally crack probably won't work on Dumbledore," Sirius sighed.

"It certainly didn't work on Moony," James agreed.

James and Sirius were the only ones who didn't break out into snickers at such a display, but they laughed along anyways for their reactions to it.

None would easily forget the nightmarish start to Harry's fourth year, and didn't at all appreciate him being back in that environment. Harry couldn't help shivering again at once, memories of that graveyard he still had nightmares about likely over the next hill... but that wasn't even his worst memory anymore. He'd face Voldemort all over again to erase what he'd truly lost only a year later, so he controlled himself hopefully before the others lingering looks could fill with too much

pity.

Remus' voice hitched uncomfortably at their horrifying thought being so right, and only the constant reminder Harry wasn't really there stopped them all from panicking in their own

flashback of his time there. Even Dumbledore being present was of some comfort, a feeling they were sure they wouldn't get often, but as the only man left in Harry's life, they had nothing else to rely on.

"Was it not rundown yet?" Sirius demanded, his tone too sharp for the casual question, but he'd do anything to keep conversation alive rather than dwell on other things present.

"Doesn't seem that way, or not nearly as much as it will be, as surely Harry would have noticed," Remus agreed.

"This must have been quite some time ago then, at least before Voldemort murdered his Muggle family," Sirius concluded, the knowledge doing little to comfort him Harry was back around there, even in a memory.

"I'm imagining that was the point," Sirius muttered darkly at once. Anyone who would purposely cast their house in shadows like that instantly reminded him of the Black house.

Lily felt an unease set upon her just as much as Sirius for that description. Surely a man from the Magical Law Enforcement wouldn't be there unless it was inhabited, so whoever did live there was no one she wanted to hear of.

"Can you blame him?" James muttered.

Harry hadn't yet been able to relax since this began, and that only made him feel worse. While no personal liking for the beasts, he understood no one would do that if it were anything but a warning.

"In his defense," Remus tried to say as mildly as he could, ignoring how much he was failing as this continued to get worse for Ogden, "the Ministry aren't really ever told that, no matter how much we may think it."

"Why wouldn't he?" Sirius muttered, finding it more odd by the moment what exactly Dumbledore was showing Harry.

"Oh," the others muttered in surprise. It was not really something they thought about often, even with one sitting in the room.

Harry just grimaced, thinking how he couldn't blame the majority of wizards thinking this a Dark language when people like this used it for conversation. Then he really kept thinking about it and asked quietly, "can you learn Parseltongue?"

"Not that I'm aware of," James said slowly, not wishing to be untruthful, but he'd never particularly tried either.

Harry hesitated for a moment, then seemed to say another question than what had originally been on his mind, "Is that why Dumbledore brought me along then? To translate this?"

"Possibly," Lily agreed quietly. Harry's questions had done nothing to deflect what everyone around him was thinking, including himself. Tom Riddle had claimed to be the last heir to

Slytherin, and if these people spoke Parseltongue, than they could well be meeting his mother in this place. It made as much sense as anything, how many were there in the world, and someone

just happened to be speaking it in the same town as Voldemort's father would one day be. Already, they could tell it wasn't going to go well.

"Isn't that how you described Slytherin in the Chamber?" Sirius sighed, he didn't like thinking about that place any more than Prongs, but their idea just seemed more confirmed by the line.

"Sadly," Harry agreed.

"If he doesn't have up alert charms, there's not many other ways to warn there's someone on your property," Remus rolled his eyes at this daft statement.

"I must give this man credit for still sticking around at this point," Lily murmured, hoping he came back out with the same limbs he went in with.

Harry did blink in some confusion though as he asked, "I thought you could only speak to snakes like that, not other people."

"I'd presume with practice you could say it whenever, like any language," Remus offered. "Yours may be a bit more limited, considering it, well, you-" he stuttered and ended quickly without trying to finish that while Harry looked away, not meeting his or anyone's eyes.

"Please stop mentioning that," James muttered, it got more disturbing every time.

Harry wanted to laugh at such a question being thrown out, it reminded him too much of his first meeting with Malfoy, and even he hadn't been as bad.

"Agreed, though I'd have liked a more colorful response," Sirius sneered, this Guant man was reminding him too much of his dad on his worst days.

"I'm sure all noses look the same to your disfigured one," James huffed.

All five of them burst out laughing for the man's wit, they really did like him now.

"Probably can't read them," Sirius muttered.

"This man's a delight, please tell me he still works there," Lily snickered while the boys laughed even louder.

"I've done no such thing!" He paused, considered it, and finished anyways, "yet."

Remus cracked the book over his head for the poor joke while Harry gave a half-hearted laugh.

"I could have told him that already," James sighed. "I'd have given him a fine already, and when he ignored that, bloody arrested him for his poor hospitality."

"Making it rather a good thing you may not choose to be an Auror anymore," Lily chuckled to herself. Ogden had already shown more patience than even she could have managed with such a person.

"I could have done without that translation, thank you," Sirius grumbled.

Lily sighed heavily, already wanting to croon over this poor family. That boy and girl, they only acted the way they did because of that sham of a father Guant no doubt, and his parents before. This was clearly a rotten line that would continue to suffer down the ages, creating their circumstances now. Details of Harry's second year kept trickling back to her, how Tom Riddle

grew up in an orphanage. He should consider himself lucky, that had to be better than this pit.

Sirius let out a low, appreciative whistle, though he wished her spell had misfired on this Guant's head instead.

James worked furiously with his jaw to stop himself shouting back, getting in the way of this girl and showing this tosser what's what. Shouting at her like that, he was as bad as Vernon!

"Didn't know he had it in him," Remus snarked quietly.

Harry felt a deep churning of pity for this poor girl mixing with a question he was chewing on, but decided to ask anyways, "thought Squibs couldn't do magic? She just did."

"You're exactly right, she's clearly magical, and this arse shouldn't be near another breathing thing," Lily seethed. She tried to keep the anger out of her voice when speaking to her son, but it was hard. It was maddening to realize this had already happened, there would be no happy ending for this poor girl who would die giving birth to Voldemort of all people.

"Yes," all five of them muttered in disgust, wishing they could return the favor in kind.

"Yeah, that'll do it," Remus chuckled.

Harry sighed in agitation, wishing he'd gotten some friendly man to give him a summons rather than Fudge expelling him for doing the opposite of this Morfin.

Remus didn't know why he was so surprised given everything around this place, but he still came to a stuttering stop and glared at the filthy word he'd just said.

Lily turned pale as a sheet and twitched for her wand, and the other three boys all looked likely to pitch him off a tower after a good stunner was placed on him for that. Why was Dumbledore

showing Harry this? It was nothing but infuriating to the lot of them.

"A brave man, honestly," Sirius murmured, still prepared any moment for curses to start flying.

"A two for one?" James offered, his eyes still narrowed and ruining the joke, not that he cared.

Harry didn't even hear him, his mind scrambling desperately as he tried to make something click together, something very obvious, important, and vital, but that blinding pain was back in full

force, threatening his mind for even considering pushing into thinking about this. He wasn't even sure if the others noticed his dilema, wrapped up as he was.

Honestly they didn't, thinking Harry's pained expression was the same as theirs hearing of this happening.

James blinked in surprise at that though, wondering if Moony and Padfoot had even heard it for all the muttered cursings they were still giving at that nasty little speech. Like Sirius, he liked to pretend the majority of his pureblood side of the family didn't exist for reasons exactly like this monster, and for this to just be shoved into conversation like that really made him sympathize with Sirius yet again.

First the ring, now this, Harry was quite sure his head was going to pop off in moments for the sharp pain being caused. He could tell the others still weren't grasping why this was shown except

to depress them, but there was a significance here he was sure he was missing, if only this pain would leave and he could just think for a moment...

"I'm feeling, he doesn't care, ten times more emotion than he's ever shown for anything but what he just said," Sirius sneered.

Lily sneered in disgust, as if this grimy ape could put two and two together with his brain capacity.

"Credit to this man!" Remus blinked in disbelief Ogden was still trying! "I'm with Prongs, can't believe he's bothering to still try!"

"Didn't get to be head for nothing I suppose," Sirius tried for a chuckle.

Desperately, so that Harry could think of anything else for a moment, he threw out, "Ministry will come far since I turn fifteen. They knew the exact spell and time it was used. Here, Ogden makes it sound like it was all very general."

Lily wrapped a reassuring arm around him, mistaking that pained expression for his loathing of these circumstances, though that was in there as well. "Magic is always adapting love. What was

this, twenty years ago or more from now, I can see how they wouldn't yet be able to more than just determine magic was used in an area. They're finding new ways every day to narrow in on

the source, what was once a town became a city block, a house."

Harry nodded to indicate he heard, the pain in his temple not alleviated at all.

"This can't have been the first offense either," Lily's twitching frown didn't seem likely to vanish anytime soon. "If he's as old as I'm thinking."

"Guant probably does keep him on a tight leash though, perhaps the other night he got loose," Sirius snarled with far to much familiarity in his tone, and Lily didn't want to know what that

meant.

"Oh dear," James muttered. Tom was a common enough name though, surely they weren't really fixing to see the other half of the equation that led to their current existence...

"This will not go well," Remus said through numb lips. He couldn't imagine Voldemort even being born now. From all they'd seen, the woman they'd pegged as his mother was fixing to drop

dead from the hand of her father.

Lily wanted to cover her ears. She fought back against the impulse only just, but couldn't shake the man so easily strangling his daughter not moments before. Surely the only thing holding her life so far in this waste was waiting for her to be mature enough to give birth to her brothers child, to carry on the precious lineage Gaunt so clearly favored, but even that thought may not hold back what could have happened to her next.

Even in his fear for that child James felt his face spasm in disgust, he couldn't stand hearing that kind of talk, and the oddity of it coming from Moony's voice wasn't getting any easier to hear.

"I, wouldn't think that very funny," Sirius said slowly, knowing there weren't many things he couldn't make a joke of, but he was sure even he'd find that more alarming than amusing.

Lily gently touched his shoulder in thanks, and then frowned in concern when he didn't relax at her touch. He may still feel deep sympathy for that poor girl, but even that couldn't distract him

from fighting the battle his mind was in, still stuck on that memory like a craw in his tooth, but with no way to get it out he could yet know.

Sirius shivered unhappily at the mention of that place. There was a happier time where he'd sneer, demand that was all they'd gotten for their crimes, but he couldn't imagine ever saying a thing like that again.

"Bloody hell!" James went bug eyed. It really didn't click until that moment, even though they'd known Voldemort's full name for a few days now, even seeing the horrid excuse for a human the

Dark Lord's wizard grandfather was, couldn't have made him really understand what he'd just heard. "Merope named her kid after that, that-" there weren't words for such a creature!

"You got me," Harry sighed in agreement.

"They aren't the only ones," Sirius stated in clipped tones, and Harry was almost sad he didn't need to ask.

"Which doesn't make a lick of sense!" Lily seethed. "Even in his warped reality, his child! She'd carry on his bloodline, clearly what he valued more than anything, how-" she could never grasp

the idea of how you could be that way to your child for any reason.

"Why thank you, I'm glad your own heritage has finally surpassed that level of surprise," James tried for a laugh that still came out wrong. He couldn't wrap his head around it any more than

Harry.

Harry shook his head at his dad, even that memory wasn't as disturbing as the one he'd just witnessed.

"She was eighteen by that point?" Lily murmured in surprise. She'd been picturing someone much smaller, though she supposed many aspects had led to that.

Sirius' mouth flopped open. Even in his shock though, he couldn't feel anything but more pity for this girl. As horrid a thing as she'd done, after that kind of life, he could justify almost anything she'd do, including giving birth to Voldemort.

"That's still much kinder than she was due, and it actually happened," James muttered with a torn expression in place. He wanted to hate this girl, for letting her fantasy ruin their lives, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, even by the means she'd used.

"Something that would bite him in his own arse a few years later," Remus sighed, putting together the rest of the story in his head.

"I can't see Tom Sr. doing much good even if he did stick around," Lily had a fascinating look on her face even as it was still flushed red from many things to do with all this. "I've never even heard of this, a love potion being taken so far. I can't imagine the man would care for what he'd been forced to love, and even if he had stuck around," she shook her head deeply, hiding her hair in her face so as not to give away where her mind was wandering back to now.

Funny, how Harry hadn't heard the question brought up in here, but he could see it simmering on all of them. He wondered what held them back from demanding it, and even more, why he wanted to laugh at his past self. Already he could feel the beginnings of a puzzle, one very essential to his life.

"I can see it," Remus tried to put into words what he thought was Dumbledore's thinking on this. "To understand your enemy is to know as much as you can about them. I'm not yet sure, obviously we haven't exactly found his self-destruct button, as Sirius has been known to so eloquently put it, but maybe if he keeps digging," he trailed off suggestively, and Harry nodded eagerly. Already he could feel the fog lifting, even the hint of an answer of the horizon making the pain once more bearable as he stopped trying to push so hard to understand all this.

James snorted. "Ask for forgiveness, not permission," he scolded.

"And then don't even bother to ask for that," Sirius agreed with an eye roll.

"After what he said over the summer, I certainly can't see him telling you no," Lily agreed after glaring at the two for departing such wisdom.

"Who else would they tell it to?" Remus scoffed. "I can't see Hermione sharing this with Luna, and her decision to put another article in her magazine. You three have always kept things close to the vest."

"Guess Dumbledore was just being safe," Harry shrugged.

Harry's breath hitched in his throat, his trembling hands wanting to reach out now and hold his parents to him. What about this ring, more than anything else he'd yet heard of, made him want to

cling to them tighter than ever? To again check on Sirius and Remus, make sure they weren't some spectral figures from his nightmares. He hated this thing being mentioned, and yet at the

same time, could hardly breathe when it was, wanting so badly to understand!

James patted Harry's shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way, letting out a low whistle and offering, "bet that's worth a shiny sickle," recalling how ancient it was.

"Can't imagine how he got it, without dragging it from Gaunts hand," Sirius made a little face of disgust why Dumbledore even had.

"Ooh, finally getting something out of this," Remus muttered with far more interest than he actually felt, Harry still hadn't returned to normal color. This whole chapter was just a mess for

him.

Sirius growled in agitation, but all things considered, that wasn't the worst way this chapter could have ended. At least they'd gone two whole chapters now without his death being brought up, so they were honestly on a roll.

Harry's mind was still lingering on this with unease, and he tried to erase some of that as he asked, "well Dumbledore didn't ask me a single thing of what they said, so he either must have figured it out for himself or does know Parseltongue."

"That man's a mystery to us all," Remus bitterly grumbled, making Harry wince again and Remus to shift uneasily at bringing this up himself. He knew he couldn't avoid the topic much longer,

maybe he should just air it out with Harry...


	11. HERMIONE'S HELPING HAND

Between The Boy Who Lived, and this chapter title, Ron is once again left out of the gift of getting one explicitly named after him, poor thing. Hell, even the twins and his mum got one.

Hope you enjoy this Peregrine Falcon, you mentioned you've been looking forward for it!

HPHPHPHP

Remus hesitated, his eyes lingering on the book, his hand brushing where his chapter had ended, but his eyes traveling from Lily, whom he owed the book to, to Harry. James words lingered in

his mind now more than ever, and well, he couldn't think of a better opportunity, while Harry still seemed so pale and unsure, and the topic had just been presented...

"Harry can I talk to you?" He made the snap decision, not letting himself talk himself out of it again.

James and Sirius exchanged a pleased smile when Harry said yes at once, nothing but surprise, and perhaps a hint of guilt as he followed him out of the room up the stairs.

Lily watched them go just as curiously, before turning accusing eyes on the boys left, "and what's that about?" Easily recalling Remus' foul mood this morning and hoping it was all going to be put away for good when they came back.

"Why should we tell you?" Sirius asked with a slight touch of sulk in his voice. "You won't tell us who the Half-Blood Prince is, though you clearly know."

Lily pursed her lips in answer, preparing to launch a volley of defenses as James turned to her as well, but then shocking both of them, he said "Dumbledore hasn't been the only thing on Moony's mind of late, the way he's been acting towards Harry in this future, or I should say hasn't been around him at all, it's really been getting to him. I encouraged him to have a chat with Harry about both of those things, I'm glad to see he's finally taken my advice."

"Prongs," Sirius whined. "You've gone soft! Where's my Marauder that would dangle this over her head until she gave something up!"

James just shrugged without answer, and it was Lily's turn to frown at the expression on his face as he turned to Sirius and easily distracted him with a chat about Tonks, offering new solutions to a problem they weren't even sure she had yet. Still, she eagerly jumped into this least anything else surface.

Harry waited patiently for Remus to order his thoughts. He'd known he deserved whatever was coming for ages, and whatever had finally gotten Remus to deliver it he was grateful. He just

wasn't sure what to expect. His past experiences only offered what Vernon or McGonagall would have done. He was positive in this instance to lean more towards McGonagall, with a stern lecture about his temper and how Harry should think before he vented what he had on Remus the previous day. He wanted to start with another apology, which Remus truly deserved. He even still

had some unanswered questions about their last talk, but held it all in, letting him speak first like he was owed.

"Harry, I just wanted to say before this went on any farther," he couldn't help making an agitated face already, the whole summer had been bad enough, but for him to not have even been heard of that breakfast, "I really do understand why you lashed out at me, I deserved it and can quite easily believe how you grew to resent me over the years. Just please hear me that I'm trying, I won't so blindly follow Dumbledore again-"

"Remus, I never resented you!" Harry finally cut through, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "The thought never even crossed my mind! I guess, I mean, you could have turned out

worse." He felt a little guilty for adding that, but he also seemed determined to speak his mind. "You could have been like Snape."

The thought had been lingering for ages. He often wondered why the idea didn't baffle him a lot more than it should, his mother being friends with someone like Snape. It made him briefly at

times consider he'd somehow learned this in his own time, though he had not a clue how that was possible, clearly Snape wasn't sharing that information. It still made his point though, "Snape hates me even though he and my mum used to be best friends, and you could have been the same way. You could have blamed it all on me." Remus' scandalized expression simply made Harry nod, thinking that proved his point.

"I'm still ashamed I took that out on you," Harry went on before Remus could pull himself back into speaking, forcing himself to get this all out while he had the chance. "If I can find a way to

make that up to you I will-"

"You already are," Remus promised, only hesitating for a moment before reaching out and taking his shoulder. "What you're giving us is a gift we wouldn't have even known to ask for, that's more

than we could ever thank you for, so everything in between should just stay in this house, eh?"

Harry grinned at once, completely relaxing and all at ease now just as he was. It was still baffling, how little his proximity seemed to bother Harry. No matter how much he kept seeing to the

contrary, he still kept expecting Harry to pull away from him for any number of reasons, but he never did. There was a longing in his eyes, one that didn't quite match what he held for the rest of the family. It was almost regret, or something more, but what Remus was sure of was that Harry wanted to know him. If it really was because they grew closer in this future than he could finally

rejoice he'd done something right at least.

The smile dimmed for a moment, but before Remus could even start to worry what crossed his mind, Harry offered, "ah, I feel like I should, I don't know, apologize for everything Dumbledore

does as well. I don't know, it's kind of weird since he hasn't done it to you all yet, but I can see how much he means to you. I, get that, for so long he's the only one who," he stopped with a now familiar pained expression, but waved him off, promising he wasn't pushing any farther. "Well, considering how my first lesson with him went, lets just say now they probably won't be going better the rest of this year, but I just, can't, despise him for everything." He finished lamely. He really couldn't wait until he never had to deal with this feeling again, of being incomplete. A piece of his mind that was missing a huge chunk of this conversation, that just like no matter what Snape did, he couldn't hate him with all his being.

Remus surprised him by laughing. "I'm a big boy Harry. I promise I can deal with whatever thoughts I have towards Dumbledore without blaming you."

Harry winced in shame, and Remus realized that wasn't the best choice of words, so he soothed, "we promised you we wouldn't do anything until we heard all you have to say." Not that they had

a choice, he couldn't help mentally grumbling with one eye out the window, but his point still stood.

"Thanks Remus," Harry grinned at him. When he looked like he was just going to wave it off, Harry insisted, "I mean it, for everything, then and now."

Remus beamed, and Harry grinned right back. That look never failed to make the premature lines across his youthful face vanish, and Harry wished he'd seen that smile outside this house. He couldn't recall one though, and very much hoped it was somewhere in his future.

He led the way back downstairs, the cheerful mood still pouring off both of them now. The other three noticed at once. The slight tension between the two for the past few days finally leaving

almost a physical thing. James and Sirius felt like hugging them, they couldn't stand to see the two fighting, or whatever that passive ignoring each other nonsense had been.

Lily almost happily picked up the book and began at once. Despite the climate Harry was still living in, his sixth year having the same air as all seven years of their school with the way it had

started, there was finally something to be smiling at that couldn't be taken away by this book.

"You're giving me horrible flashbacks," James sighed, rubbing his own forehead with the memory of those first few weeks coming back, all that homework that never seemed to end.

Sirius mock fainted in surprise.

Lily began giggling hysterically again like that was still the funniest thing she'd ever heard. James rolled his eyes at her while Remus and Sirius just grinned at Harry, congratulating him on at least finding one class he could have an ease of, they wished they'd had this thing in school.

Causing at least the four graduates to burst out with further laughter and Harry to huff he was just so glad it was so funny to look back on for them, he certainly hadn't been as amused at the time.

"One of the very few reasons I actually liked that class," Sirius agreed with a crazy grin still in place. "Got to use quite a bit of language in that class, and the one time she ever told me off for it was when it was directed at Snivellus."

"He deserved it," James said fairly when Harry looked like he was trying not to laugh. "I don't know what crawled up his arse that day to decide to drop that thing down Padfoot's pants, but-"

He was cut short by Harry bursting out laughing as hard as they just had. He was honestly a bit relieved, he hadn't been entirely convinced Harry still would laugh at that kind of thing after what he'd seen in Snape's memories.

"Oh," Lily sighed, she couldn't imagine how much that would sting for the poor dear.

Remus just clucked his tongue. He felt a little bad for Hagrid, but surely a teacher would know not to take it so personally a student wouldn't continue with the class. He had any sympathy at all because this would be his first year with such a sudden drop, especially his three favorite students.

"I'm sure he's just busy," Sirius tried to sooth, as Harry started to look very guilty for this. Neither of them believe it, but Harry appreciate the attempt anyways.

"Whoo!" James hooted at once.

"Next time start with the bad and end with the good news of tryouts," James huffed when Lily had kept going, but he was still smiling hopefully for that to come.

"Ehh," Sirius waved his hand vaguely, and Harry wasn't all that reassured no one here really denied Hagrid may have tried to get away with that for an 'advanced' class.

"Priorities," Lily huffed, wishing he'd set his friend first, especially after a full week of not going to see him.

"It comes and goes every year," James waved off.

Harry suddenly looked quite alarmed at his friends deduction, surely she couldn't be right about this one! It didn't help no one in here looked likely to protest it, they just looked a bit amused. Now that his affection for Cho had been entirely eradicated, they'd actually been really curious who would catch his eye next, so Hermione bringing it up was quite entertaining.

Harry's hand twitched uneasily at the reminder again, and it didn't help they all adopted the same murderous faces now as they had first hearing of this. Whatever those centaurs had done still

didn't feel like good enough retribution for leaving a permanent mark on their boy.

"Honestly, if those two dance in anymore circles, they're going to put a moat around Hogwarts," Remus sighed.

Sirius snickered hard for Harry's friends, somehow finding this even more entertaining than Prongs and Evans had been.

Lily's heart had started to grow heavy at the start of this, the sting always present of being denied this for her child never appreciated when it was pushed to the for-front of her mind. By the end she was trying to stop herself chewing on the inside of her cheek, the unease for Remus squirming so much inside her she thought she was going to be sick. With an uneasy glance up though, she saw both were trying to pretend like they hadn't heard a thing. It was of some relief, at least, that their little chat had soothed what once could have been a very awkward moment, but for now she tried to get past that as fast as she could like the boys clearly wanted.

Remus couldn't help it, even knowing Harry didn't hold that against him, at least now, like he did, he still made a face that a bloody book store sent more mail to him than he did. That could just never be right. It helped that James, sitting right next to him, still just looked miserable like the rest of them rather than resentful like Remus wouldn't have blamed him for.

"Graffitied," Lily gave a half-hearted giggle to at least try and push the good mood back in.

"For what you're doing, or ruining a book?" Sirius asked with genuine curiosity, clearly ignoring Moony's moment as much as he could.

"Couldn't tell you, a bit of both probably," Harry answered naturally enough.

All four of them started chuckling, a pure sound of amusement they all needed. "Clever," Lily couldn't help but congratulate, having never thought for a moment he was going to give it back,

now he even had an excuse. The temptation to tell him exactly whose book he was keeping was still on the tip of her tongue, but she restrained herself, they'd just gotten their good mood back, no need ruining it with certain information.

"And that man has never passed up a bargain," Remus smirked.

Lily sighed, this was honestly the reason she hadn't gotten the paper through much of her youth, it was depressing to turn every page and expect as much.

All five of them scowled for her name being brought back up, Azkaban was almost too good for what they owed her. Almost.

"Ouch, didn't see that one coming," Lily muttered, her lower lip pouting in surprise.

"They still shouldn't have arrested him until they knew for sure," Harry seethed.

Sirius just gave his shoulder a reassuring pat, honestly wishing this was more of a surprise to them. They heard all the time of arrests from the last people you would think. Crouch was a good

example, but there were others out there doing explicit things you wouldn't think to point a finger at.

"That's even worse!" Harry snapped.

"Calm down Harry, I'm sure it won't last long," Lily tried to placate, though none of them were really any happier about this development, they weren't sure why Harry was in such a temper over it. It was just too common place to them.

"He shouldn't be in there, he doesn't deserve it!" Harry insisted.

"That was also a moment you claimed a broom could reach outer space, so," James trailed off with a pitiful shake of his head.

Sirius suddenly flinched, his favorite joke escaping him as they all realized where Harry's ire could be stemming from, and maybe he didn't even realize it except his own choice of words.

Harry couldn't say anything, not looking at any of them. Sirius sighed unhappily, not wanting to say any empty words, but shimmied just a bit closer to him anyways, as much a promise as he could offer they wouldn't let this happen to anyone again.

Harry's misery only grew at this news, that was as depressing as it could get, hearing of more parents like Seamus' mother. It was somehow even more sad to see this didn't surprise anyone

around him, this sort of thing must have happened all the time.

"That is, unusual," Remus agreed slowly, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice and almost getting there this time.

"I mean, not really, if you think about it," Lily tried. "Maybe the Ministry reinstated all of his titles in the community, plus the Order of the Phoenix, he can't just be sitting around in his office all day."

"We never exactly kept tabs on him at the table, so I couldn't say how often he was there at our time," James agreed slowly.

Sirius was already smirking, and without any preamble this time stated, "I always look Sirius! I hate using anything to change myself otherwise, who would want to deny the brightest star!"

Harry snickered in surprise while his friends rolled their eyes.

Harry felt cold chills erupting all along his arms as that memory was given back. He didn't even have to pretend what that news was like, he'd lived it only days ago hearing his parents weren't

going to be in this world with him much longer.

"I'm sensing a triangle forming," James said extra loudly, well aware Harry just couldn't keep a smile in place this time around. Surely even the coming Quidditch tryouts would help with that!

"At least I'm not anywhere in that shape, though I'll still probably be hearing about it," Harry huffed.

"Poor things, not being Harry Potter and all," Sirius snickered while James puffed up his chest, well aware none of them would be making the house team, breaking his sons record of being the

youngest in a century.

Remus snickered in surprise while James mind was already wiring clinically. "Nah, doesn't necessarily mean skill if he can't stay on the broom."

"Or Ron just beat him out," Sirius sniffed.

"Well I can't help but like him just for that," Remus burst out laughing even harder.

"Honestly, I'd probably be rooting for him if Ron weren't trying for the same spot," Lily agreed.

Harry made a face at both of them, he had no good will towards him, even if he couldn't explain the feeling.

"He'll learn fast," James scoffed.

"Not bad at all," James approved, his eyes many miles away back on the pitch himself. "Get a good handle on just how often they're in the air."

Harry couldn't help the shy smile, blushing a bit at the praise he hadn't been expecting. He was only doing what he thought was obvious at the time, to help out his team.

Causing all five of them to burst out laughing, Harry hardest of all as he'd tried to hold it in at the time.

Lily scoffed at that one, they would have made better cheerleaders. She didn't even like the game and couldn't understand why they'd bother if they didn't either.

The Marauders laughed extra hard at that one while Harry rolled his eyes, thinking they could go annoy their own tryouts.

"What did I do?" Sirius demanded.

"I'm sure you weren't any help to dad when he was going through this," Harry shrugged without remorse.

"Don't encourage him by responding to that Harry," Remus groaned, when he laughed was bad enough.

"No, Harry was right that time, Sirius was laughing his arse off and I had half a mind to kick him off the field. I was Siriusly annoyed by him too," James couldn't help joining in with a chuckle that time, causing Remus to make a face at him of pure betrayal while the others just laughed harder.

"At least someone was enjoying themselves," Harry gave a grudging laugh as well, everyone around him still giggling too much to hold onto that agitation that had been hovering over him at

that time.

Harry was beaming at this, he had a really good feeling at least these weren't decisions he'd regret. It was the other positions he wasn't feeling as sure of, and hoped he wouldn't let his dad down with any of the others.

"Yeah, I'd believe him," Sirius nodded along, having actually done as much to one who had the gall to tell Prongs what a sham he was after all that.

"A shame twins don't come along more often," James sighed, still eyeing Lily hopefully, who was ignoring him.

"Ah well, I'm sure Ron's over all that by now anyways. He won the last tournament after all," James smirked.

"This next one both will be playing in it, it's going to be a blast," Sirius already agreed with high energy to get to that!

"He could be nervous and still readying himself," Remus pacified, all of them at ease and sure Ron would do fine. He'd lived through the worst of it last year after all.

"A tough score to beat," James grudgingly nodded. "I suppose if they tied you'd just have them do it over again?"

"Yeah," Harry sighed with agreement, fingers crossed it wouldn't come to that and Ron would do brilliantly.

Harry blinked in surprise, rubbing his forehead for why that would cause a stir in his memories.

"Ooh, bet Hermione loved that," Sirius rolled his eyes. He already disliked her for her previous tendencies in Trelawney's class and hoped Ron didn't really return the affection. He'd still take Hermione's stubbornness over some giggly girl.

James gave a sympathetic nod, thinking there had been many times during his captaincy he'd had to show more restraint than he had all previous years of school because of that badge.

"Urgh, what a sore loser," Remus wrinkled his nose up in disgust as well as the comparison.

"Honestly, even if they had tied I'd rather Harry give it to Ron now just for that," Sirius agreed.

"That'a boy," James approved, his eyes narrowing and his hand twitching for his wand. Even knowing Harry could handle himself against some pompous seventh year didn't mean he was going to stand for that.

"And good riddance," Lily sniffed, as happy as any of the boys for the way this turned out.

"Wonder if Hermione did something to her, or said something," Sirius snickered.

"Quick, check he has all his teeth!" James yelped in alarm.

"And all his sense," Lily agreed with a giggle while Harry rolled his eyes at all of them. Not all of Hagrid's cooking was that bad...

"I missed Ron doing this!" James laughed.

Harry missed the others laughing around him this time, an idea just on the edge of his mind-

and then he nodded to himself, a slight smile in place as he thought it was all but confirmed.

"Oh, she didn't," James said, a look of mingled exasperation and amusement in place.

"I'm thinking she did," Sirius nodded slowly, like he couldn't decide if he should be outraged at such a display of interference in Quidditch or laughing his arse off she'd pulled something like

that.

Lily easily decided on laughter, at all of the boys expression for this, for Hermione herself, she was just giggling up a storm for so long they couldn't help but join in. Hermione was very many things, but they couldn't deny she helped her own too.

Sirius scoffed, he quite liked that beast and was honestly considering getting his own now.

Lily's voice hitched in her throat, her hands shook across the cover. They'd actually managed to go two whole chapters without that being brought up, and yet somehow it worse as Harry reminisced with a beast of all things about it.

"Oh dear," Lily sighed.

"That could have gone better," James agreed with a wince.

"I disagree," Sirius looked a bit wide eyed with alarm. "The last people Hagrid was ticked off with got their heads nearly knocked off."

"I haven't cursed McGonagall lately," Harry half-heartedly defended.

"It's been a week, surely he's just making his point clear they offended him." Remus pacified. "Soon as they get to talking to him he'll come around."

"Wish he would have already," Lily sighed, still wanting to smack him for treating her son that way.

"I'm just picturing him on the other side, arms crossed, pouting," Sirius laughed a bit, though it did nothing to erase Harry's uneasy frown.

"You've been a bit violent today," James noted.

"Not taking any nonsense with his friends, right after you," Sirius agreed good naturedly.

"You actually pulled it out!" Lily gasped, she honestly couldn't picture it.

"I'd have really done it to," Harry said without too much remorse. He wouldn't just let Hagrid ignore him.

"I, can almost imagine," Remus said slowly. Despite the obvious contrary, he rarely thought of Hagrid as intimidating. It wasn't pleasant picturing that anywhere near directed towards Harry.

Lily couldn't help but make a little face at that. It hadn't even registered until this moment Hagrid, as a teacher, had never actually referred to Harry as such and the contrast now was startling.

"Harry's really got all the teachers on their toes this year with that mouth," Sirius gave an appreciative laugh.

"Ungrateful is a little harsh," James frowned in defense. "Honestly Hagrid, would it have been much better if they'd forward you they were dropping the class?"

"Maybe a bit," Remus sighed, he still felt some sympathy for Hagrid despite his attitude about it.

All five of them scoffed at that. Honestly, even at his worst they'd never actually be afraid of him, and after what Hermione had just done, they would have thought she'd be more bemused at his behavior like they were.

"Um," Lily muttered, feeling a little bad she'd never really thought about it. The other teachers could all converge in the staff room if they wanted company, but it was a bit depressing to

suddenly wonder how many went out to go see Hagrid just for a chat.

"This is getting offensive," James sighed. "I'm all for the theatrics to prove your point man, but you're holding a bit of a grudge against students not wanting to take a class."

"Hagrid's always been big on gestures, I'm sure this seemed like a significant one to him," Harry sighed, though even looking back he wasn't sure what he could have done differently.

James still had the urge to knock that out of Harry's hand for his health.

"Never pictured your face on a potato before," Sirius snorted, "though I'm sure it's helping Hagrid a bit."

"Thank you, now I'll never eat at Hagrid's again, not that there was much of a chance before," Remus muttered.

"Oooh," Lily huffed, wishing to make him look at her and really acknowledge what his problem was. She couldn't blame him for being a bit hurt, but now he was starting to make her son look

guilty for something he really couldn't help and she wouldn't lightly stand for that.

They felt some concern start lighting up the room, surely Hagrid hadn't found something even more horrible than Grawp already!

This was so entirely the opposite of what they'd just been fearing, they all got a good laugh for the harmless things and the overreactions to it.

"Naww," Remus offered, though he was the only one who bothered, the others got a shifty look in place at the reminder of him.

"Ooh, that poor dear," Lily said in sympathy at once, suddenly realizing Hagrid's overreaction to the kids may have actually been out of focus for something else.

"Please tell me you're talking about Hagrid," James still had his nose crinkled in disgust, even as it flagged a bit for Hagrid in sympathy.

She ignored him, actually trying to keep going with just the tiniest bit of hope they were misunderstanding this. She never would have thought she'd be hoping for an Acromantulas good

health, especially this particular one, but Hagrid had this way of making her care for things she never would have thought she could simply by his own huge heart.

Sirius couldn't help but frown for the poor man as well. Aragog had technically been the reason Hagrid was expelled, and yet Hagrid still cared about him so much. It really was sweet, even if he couldn't bring himself to feel the same for something that had once condoned eating Harry.

Sirius still managed a gag for that, he'd somehow prefer the man eating spider to that monster!

"I'm sure Ron would be exempt from this offer," James offered half-heartedly.

"Remind me to grow arachnophobia so I can be as well," Sirius huffed.

"Funny?" Remus repeated slowly, wondering if Hagrid was really ignorant of their true nature in this. It didn't seem likely, with as knowledgeable as he was of species in general, but surely

Hagrid knew it wasn't common of someone to go in and out of a nest like theirs so freely.

Harry was the only one who managed an uneasy laugh, the other still couldn't for that not so friendly reminder.

"Was that all it took?" James sighed. "Next time I'll bring one along with me!"

"Please don't dear," Lily muttered, not entirely sure if he meant it or not.

Lily shivered, but altogether tried to ignore the goosebumps flying up her and her soul crushing for once again having to remember all that had transpired in there.

"See, lying and flattery really does get you everywhere!" Sirius burst out laughing. Even Lily gave an uneasy chuckle back just to hear him keep saying such things, the constant reminder he

may not be able to one day made almost all of his many annoying habits just a bit funnier than usual.

"I was joking," James muttered.

Lily snorted enthusiastically and Remus couldn't help snickering as well. The two Quidditch zealots still looked more torn than anything, deeply wanting to praise Hermione's clear conniving

skill and even the lingering effects the spell had, but she'd interfered in Quidditch!

"Urgh, I'd have done it on principle as well," Remus scowled.

James gave a little huff, but the worst part was he really could picture Moony doing the exact same thing, and he still wasn't sure if he'd laugh or scold him for it either.

"This is true," Sirius sighed. "It's just the principle of the matter, it's like cheating Ron's way onto the team!"

"The one time you don't condone cheating," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Quidditch," James insisted, "is not to be trifled with!"

"And?" The three Marauders muttered, that really was the least awful part of this, it was quite brilliant under any other circumstances in fact.

"Poor Ron's jealousy might be making a comeback," Sirius chuckled uneasily, hoping Ron didn't get the wrong impression and pick another row with Harry.

Harry just scoffed, it was a ludicrous idea to him what Sirius was implying, but at the same time something uneasy lingered in him for it about Ron getting the wrong idea.

"Ugh, and so it begins!" James groaned.

"You're lucky you had so much practice ducking away from Lockhart, you'll be using that on this one as well," Sirius groused.

James was already miming snoring at this point, and Sirius and Remus were shifting restlessly like they would have walked right past him already. Harry honestly wished he'd done the same.

Lily was ignoring them and smiling fondly at this, having quite the flashbacks to her own years in school again, some of the happier times.

"Ouch," all five of them muttered, Remus most potently as he'd experienced that along with... well every time Slughorn had tried to catch up with James and Sirius.

"The fact that you use his title," James scrunched up his face in disgust, even as he weighed in his mind which would be more reprehensible to listen to that night. Both really were coming out equally unappealing.

Sirius did get a good laugh out of that, very much wishing Harry could sit in on that conversation.

"I'll bet Slughorn's hoping to use his old status on him to get his way," Lily said fondly.

"Was Snape in this?" Harry asked in disgust, his respect for this stupid club dropping every moment more it was discussed.

"Yes," Lily frowned reproachfully. "We spent so much time debating in class, trying to outdo each other with our potions, he thought we were a riot and invited him along all the time."

Harry tried very hard not to roll his eyes while Lily bit her tongue for a moment to stop herself pointing out Harry should be very grateful to him this year in particular.

"It's honestly a miracle he did it the first time," James agreed.

"Don't know what she's thinking, I'd take the chance to further Confund him," Sirius' smirk turned into that cruel little twist Harry uneasily recaled getting first hand experience of in a

Pensive. He'd seen it several times in here as well when they were speaking of Snape. "Wonder just how many times you can use that spell on someone, think they'll miss their mouth and start

shoving food up their-"

"And this is why I never wondered why Slughorn only invited you to his big parties, instead of all his gatherings," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She does know she can just, not go," James snorted.

"Suppose she felt morally obligated or some such, him singling her out like that," Harry shrugged without much concern.

Remus sighed in pity for Ron while the others seemed happy enough to gloss over this. They obviously couldn't care that much, since his friends blew them off and Lily couldn't find them much of a big deal since she went to so many. He however knew exactly how Ron was feeling, and he hadn't even cared that much for it.

"That's not how you start a conversation!" Lily squeaked as Harry had nearly startled out of his seat in alarm as well. Considering all these kids had been reading of the paper, not to mention past

events, Hermione should start with the end of that sentence!

"Aw, see Harry, he wasn't dismissing you at all," James grinned.

"Pity he didn't find anything," Sirius sighed.

"The Boy Who Lived to be the Chosen One is far to special for such a thing!" Sirius dramatically declared while Harry fought back the compulsion to whack him upside the head, he hated both of those titles, let alone them being strung together!

"Eww, why would he even have that," Lily muttered.

Harry got a blissful little smile in place for just such a small moment the others hardly noticed. They hadn't thought about this at least since Malfoy had stamped on Harry's nose, quite the

distraction, but now they were back to wondering just what was up with that. Hermione did have a point it should be next to impossible for Malfoy to get anything to horrible into the school, could he possibly be putting this project of his off until next summer?

"Nah, mails probably still being checked," Sirius disagreed.

Harry was painfully wrenched from his little memory of watching Ginny, her hair the same color as the fire behind her surely making her stick out more than she should, and responded with

agitation, "thought only Umbridge did that mess!"

"She was much more invasive about it," Lily seethed at the reminder, but more calmly explained, "but it has been known to happen in a more broad sense, just to know the kind of thing getting in, not what it actually says or what it is."

"It's a good thing Malfoy doesn't know about the secret entrances into the school," James agreed with a sigh.

Sirius gave a suggestive smirk, muttering what could possibly be on Ron's mind, while the others ignored him.

"Well he's not in a fun mood," Remus rolled his eyes.

Remus winced while the others just sighed, honestly feeling a bit bad for Ron but there was no good answer for that problem.

"Of course he'd rub that in, as if Harry asked for it," James grumbled.

"The one time Slughorn could have done some good," Sirius sighed in agreement.

"He wouldn't have bought gloves anyways!" Remus snipped. "So the warning was just a preinsult."

"That's Snape for ya," Harry agreed.

"I'm finished," Lily told with a shake of her head. That could have been, worse, she supposed. At least overall it wasn't getting into the terrible state it could have been, considering Harry's past track record.


	12. SILVER AND OPALS

James took the book from Lily with a happy enough air. He was mostly hoping the first Quidditch game would come up soon, considering tryouts were already past and they needed to see the team in action of course.

"Thoughts I really don't think of too often, unlike Moony," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You make me sound like a panting teenager," Remus grumbled. "Of course I wonder all the time where the leader of the Order is."

"Your ears really have been saved Harry," Sirius continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Used to come up at least once a meal what that man could be up to, and that's nothing compared to school."

"I take it back," James agreed. "We might not have ever noticed if he was missing from the staff table, but Remus would have flipped the castle inside out if he was missing for more than a day."

Remus' scowl increased upon both of his friends. Their jesting was in good nature, but it still rankled him they weren't wrong. It simply angered him more than anything how blind he'd been

until days ago, how he'd refused to see any side of Dumbledore except his white beard until he had it shoved in his face he could be missing something.

His friends obviously knew that had been shaken. They just weren't sure what to make of that themselves. It should have been...a relief? That wasn't the right word either, because it was too sad how down he was now with no one to look up to in that same sense.

When James realized Moony wasn't going to react in any sense of the word he decided to keep going instead, deciding he'd been through more than enough today already, no need to push it.

"I entirely doubt that," Lily sighed. "Though what else he is busy doing is beyond me."

Harry nodded his agreement, trying not to pretend he hadn't been panicking just slightly at the thought of being forgotten, left alone, again.

He wanted to laugh at his own thoughts, but his teeth were still rather gritted. He didn't want to see the expressions on those around him, either pity, remorse, or anything else for something of his past that just could not be changed no matter how much he'd wish for it, so was more than relieved when James continued without too much of a hitch in his throat.

"Nah, never seen the school get that bad," Sirius rolled his eyes at the thought. "The teachers are well aware we'd burn the place to the ground ourselves if they didn't let the students get some air."

"And that was the normal students, considering this lot went about it without permission," Lily snorted.

Lily started snickering away again at once, and Harry looked at her in exasperation, still wanting to demand just what was so funny he was missing? It certainly wasn't the same reaction from the Marauders, who looked more dumbfounded than anything this was how Harry chose to spend his time. Even if he'd chosen to pursue homework they'd have thought nothing of it, but independent

study!

"You lot can't even really mock him," Remus pleasantly interpreted the almost constipated look on James and Sirius, "because I caught you lot doing the same thing with Transfiguration books so often I honestly thought you had split personalities."

"Yes, well, we had a pretty damn good reason," James huffed.

"So does Harry, he's catching up on five years worth of Potions that useless teacher couldn't have taught him," Sirius insisted, deciding to defend this for now, though no one in here was accusing him of anything.

Lily started laughing harder than ever, and James quickly kept going then, to Harry's relief.

Harry whistled in surprise. "Hard to imagine a student inventing spells."

"I wouldn't be that surprised, we tend to experiment quite a bit in our years, far more than when we age and do things out of habit," Remus shrugged.

The first two weren't of much consequence, they were used regularly in all their years at school amongst the students and it was more likely this Prince had simply copied a spell he intended to practice. That last one however did catch them off guard, they'd never heard of that exact spell.

"That's really interesting, sort of like honing an Imperturbable Charm, except instead of directly forcing anything not to be around you, you're merely distracting them instead," James eyes were alight at once with the possibility of this.

"Glory I want to meet whoever got a nail on that spell," Sirius agreed enthusiastically, causing James' face to settle back into drawn confusion for that and Lily to start snickering harder than

ever.

"No surprise there," Remus rolled his eyes at this continuing to be mentioned.

who maintained a rigidly disapproving expression throughout and refused to talk at all if Harry had used the Muffliato spell on anyone in the vicinity.

Harry watched wearily as those around him frowned at the mention of that spell, one they hadn't used in quite some time. Before he even had a chance to ask, James gave a blustering sigh but

explained, "you already saw that one in action, courtesy of me."

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise as he demanded, "you invented that spell?"

James frowned in confusion at Harry's leap. "Nah, did a Transfiguration paper for a sixth year in exchange for some nonverbal spells our current DA teacher hadn't wanted to share with us." He waited and watched Harry flip through the spells he'd seen his father use, only one of which was silent in the one time he'd 'seen' his father perform magic.

"Oh," was all he could think to mutter before waving him on. He still felt like there was some connection he was missing in this, even if he had latched onto the right memory for once for an

answer.

Lily had to fight very, very hard this time not to fall off the furniture in a fit of laughter, she knew that would be just too much of a giveaway. Thankfully she'd been in such a spirited mood for so long now, the others were just ignoring her still near constant stream of snickering, even though their annoyance continued to grow just what she found so funny.

"Well, it seems to have worked," Sirius said pleasantly.

"Wonder which of his roommates he snagged," James chuckled, he'd accidentally caught a random third year on his first try and this was bound to be funnier because Harry would know the bloke.

"Hopefully not myself," was all Harry could think to mutter.

"I half expected it to be Neville, you already mentioned him snoring and he hasn't had a catastrophe happen to him in ages," James chuckled.

"Revenge for him punching you awake over the summer," Remus got a good laugh out of that. "It happened so long ago he wouldn't even realize you'd still planned retaliation."

"Moony's favorite," Sirius sighed.

"Ah, well, I was half right," James laughter continued, the easy mood flowing through the room making him continuing just had everyone chuckling even harder than they really should have

been.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Sirius cackled.

"Why?" Remus demanded, looking genuinely dumbfounded at this display. "He must know by now anything regarding that book won't entertain her."

"It's even worse when she's right," Sirius huffed.

"She's got half a point," Lily couldn't help but agree now that some of their laughter had subsided. "That really could have been dangerous, or you may not have even known the effect at all until it was too late to understand something was wrong, may not even have had a countercurse ready."

Harry couldn't help but shift in unease, not at all enjoying the foreboding feeling he believed her.

"Gah!" Sirius clutched his ears in pain.

"As if we didn't hear enough of that last year, Hermione's really working to get on every one of my nerves lately," James agreed tartly.

"I don't even think the Prince made up half those spells," James rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to wonder if he just heard about them and was trying to figure out how to do them himself." At least four of them so far had been common knowledge during his time at school, it seemed ridiculous one person had made up all of those and they'd grown popular in that same time frame.

James tried to laugh, but the sound didn't really make it to full crescendo. Harry very obviously realized the answer to that one here and now, but what he wouldn't give to gift his son with

something like this. His cloak often times didn't feel like it was enough to remind his only child he'd even existed, but he tried as always to shake off those thoughts.

Lily really was getting a handle on herself and almost entirely smothered the funny little noise Harry had the wrong parents influence for this book.

"That must have been an entirely different spell," Remus disagreed, "or at least a modified version of it. Levicorpus very specifically hoists one up by their ankle. That other bit of magic was much more..." he trailed off, not at all liking the words his mind offered up to explain such evil magic.

Flexible seemed to light for what those Muggles had suffered.

"At once proving her wrong," Sirius needlessly pointed out with his own eye roll. Girl needed to get a handle on her expressions. He only wished Lily were so easy to read, he still kept eyeing her and hoping any moment she'd slip and tell them who this Prince was, but aside from laughing at their ignorance he wasn't getting anything.

Lily let out a blistering sigh the kids had just so easily transitioned into talking about what she'd refused to see for far too long about this Prince.

"Oh but of course, lots of parties would be going on during that," Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust even as he joked of this.

"Deathday parties," Remus agreed with the same expression.

James snorted at the random insertion, and all the sudden memories of doing that with much more purpose.

"You mean that's not how you make the best of friends?" Remus mockingly demanded.

"Ginny's been doing that a lot this year," Lily chuckled in surprise while Harry was quick to smile again for getting off this topic, it was starting to give him a headache lingering on this.

The three Marauders sighed heavily, more than making their point they'd laughingly demanded the same thing of Filch at one point or another, and received the same results.

"Fred and George already put them out of business?" James forcefully put a happy little spin back in his voice at the reminder of how murky business' were in this climate. He still hated all the reminders pouring back in now upon Harry's life.

Harry couldn't even begin to play along. Ginny had only caused a slight delay in an ever growing headache, which clearly hadn't been about the Prince, but his coming day, and this wasn't boding well.

Sirius inhaled deeply like he was trying to pull that scent to him right now, boy he missed his frequent trips to that shop.

"That toffee scent still worth it?" Remus muttered conspiratorially, as if Slughorn were here now and trying to wrangle the pair of his friends along once again.

"Nah, I'd have gone outside again already," Sirius agreed.

"Maybe come back with a few snowballs if he didn't take a hint," James agreed.

"I can't decide if Hermione's lying to herself, or him," James snorted.

All of the boys got a good laugh out of that, while Lily rolled her eyes. They really weren't that bad.

"I already expected that," James smirked while Harry gave a nervous grin back. He really wanted this game to go without a hitch, it being his first one as captain.

"Try him," Sirius sniffed, they'd managed quite often in their years.

"An insult on top of an insult," Remus groaned, as if Ron didn't have reason enough for his insecurity problems to be in his face.

"Subtle," Sirius drew the word out with a deadpan expression.

"I don't see why she doesn't just invite him along," Lily sighed. "Ask Slughorn if she can bring a friend, he'll say yes on principle, he can come along to one and see how they are. I'll doubt he'd want to go again after that," she finished with a grumpy look at the boys.

"After that first one she hadn't the chance," Harry reminded of his Quidditch practices.

"And I'd be even more cross with her, subjecting him to that!" James rolled his eyes good naturedly. They'd invited Remus and...well they'd invited their friends to one as well, and they'd taken to it as well as to be expected. Needless to say, there was a reason Slughorn only invited he and Sirius to the important parties instead of every one after that.

"Oh joy," Sirius huffed. The last time this one had been significantly mentioned he'd dropped the ball and allowed a dementor to attack Harry. The end results weren't the point, this one wasn't a favorite of theirs no matter the good laugh he was worth from time to time.

"Sounds about right," Remus snorted.

"Probably stole the lot," James agreed.

"Wonder why he would be," Lily muttered. Harry really hadn't shown much inclination towards him for Mundungus to be anything other than passingly cordial.

James startled hard in surprise, automatically trying to lean in closer to his kid in fear someone had attacked him. It was a natural reaction after all the threatening situations his kid had been in. Forcing himself not to imagine dementors swooping in once more upon his child, he kept going frantically because of that one simple word.

"Bloody hell, what did he have!" Lily yelped in concern, fighting with herself to jump in front of Harry and demand a reasonable explanation for this. His fierce expression wasn't giving much of

an answer, clearly so outraged the words weren't coming to him, but she just knew it had to be a good one for him to be acting like this.

This was so far beyond the scope of the danger they'd been fearing, the burst of surprised laughter almost sounded like it had been punched out of Sirius. He still kept going though, his shoulders shaking with mirth even as his eyes landed shrewdly on his godson. "What a reaction."

Harry's anger didn't lessen at all for his godfathers careless way, keeping a focused anger on no one in here for the disrespect he saw in this act.

James cleared his throat uneasily before calling for his attention. "Really not seeing what you are here Harry. Sirius doesn't give a damn about that stuff, surely you know that."

"He nicked his stuff!" Harry spat, aghast now that no one seemed to be getting this. "It doesn't matter he wouldn't care, it was still his things!"

James still exchanged a puzzled look with Remus, who shrugged without answer. If he'd caught Mundungus doing that, he likely would have rolled his eyes and ignored the act, exactly for the

reason Prongs had just said. They were things, they barely associated that house and anything inside it with their friend because Sirius himself put so much distance away from it.

Sirius decided it was best to just play this off for now though, it didn't really matter what his reaction would have been, but Harry's anger for it, and so he persisted, "well, the point here is Harry's finally giving Mundungus some revenge for bailing on him last summer, so whatever the reason, I say you keep going with it Prongs."

James shrugged and did just that, not doing a very good job of hiding his mystified expression.

James winced hard at that line, swallowing convulsively and nearly choking on the spit. He had to remind himself it had already been months to Harry since this happened, where as he'd just heard the news days ago. He could hardly fathom speaking the words in a conversation yet, let alone Harry still casually dumping that pile of words no matter his temper.

"Not anywhere around there," Lily muttered. If there was one thing Mundungus was good at, it was weaseling himself out of those kinds of situations.

Harry's anger only seemed to double as he howled, "am I really still being followed?!"

"Wouldn't surprise me," Remus frowned, a bit of reproach already boiling if Harry really took this out on Tonks, she didn't deserve it at all for doing her job. "What makes you think it went away?"

"Probably not though," Sirius quickly tried to defuse, more than happy to jump topics. "She said she was stationed in Hogsmeade, probably walking the area and the Hogshead is as good a place

as any to do that, or maybe you just missed an Order meeting."

Harry just turned to grumbling and not acknowledging either of them, his hands still itching like he wished to pin someone where they stood.

"Wouldn't surprise me if she knew," James gave an uneasy chuckle at the idea of her helping to pack it away instead of Sirius like they'd all laughed about at one point. Why did everything have

to come back to haunt them with their jokes?

"So we gathered," Lily frowned in sympathy at him. She really was trying to understand why Harry was in such a temper about this, and she could sort of see it just being the principle of someone desecrating his godfathers house like that, but even then that wasn't a place Harry liked to think of Sirius in anymore than them. Sad maybe, depressed at the reminder of those things now in Mundungus' possession she'd understand, but where was this anger coming from? It was starting to wind her up as much as him for the simple fact she couldn't grasp what was bothering her child.

"I don't know why you wouldn't be, you're clearly not going to let this go," Sirius sighed, though he more than wanted to.

"No," all four of them muttered. That really had been part of Mundungus' 'charm.' It wouldn't do to have a thief around who wasn't good at his job.

"Oh good, I needed someone to hex," James muttered for himself on that one, well aware Harry didn't partake in his personal feelings of venting, but he certainly was envisioning it right now.

"All the more reason I would have laughed it all off, now it was doubly uncared for," Sirius sighed. "Least Mundungus would put it to a good cause, his own pockets."

Harry gave him a scandalized look and Sirius quickly raised his hands in surrender, deciding against pursuing the point.

"What exactly do you expect Dumbledore to do about it?" James asked curiously.

Harry just let his expression keep stewing without an answer, he didn't really have one.

"Most lads do," Sirius chuckled, "though I'd think he'd know better by now than to show as much in front of Hermione."

"Getting her back for ignoring him at breakfast that other day," James shrugged.

"Hermione's jealousy really is getting more obvious than ever," Remus chuckled, more than willing to play along and put that nasty business off their minds. "I'm wondering how long it'll

take Harry to lock them in a classroom and force them to have it out."

"I was more waiting for them to get on with it, they'd never been subtle in the past about their rows," Harry rolled his eyes, but at least his words weren't as biting anymore, he was clearly

calming down.

All four of them sighed as it registered Harry knew this anyways. It was maddening he wouldn't just spit it out and tell them what his real problem with this was, but he also had his teeth clenched again and wasn't looking at any of them. Weather he thought it was obvious enough or just didn't want to talk about it, no one was going to force it out of him when they'd rather it never be spoken of again.

Despite his hands still twitching in his lap and his face tightening more every second, they all thought he was still just on the topic of Sirius, it didn't occur to them a headache was forming again. That warning feeling deep in his gut was starting to bubble again, this trip into Hogsmeade was destined to get worse.

"How random," Sirius chuckled forcefully, but was all for Harry's stray thoughts being shown rather than his lingering one.

"I can see how that would bother you," James was quick to jump in and agree with this, making Lily wonder if she wasn't the only one feeling wrong footed in not getting a handle on Harry's real

problem. "If I had anything resembling a sister I'd feel the same."

Harry was so startled to hear that coming out of his mouth he entirely lost his contrite expression and turned to him in surprise. He'd never contradicted when anyone said this because before now he'd really felt no reason to. This time though, he wanted to protest in disgust it was nothing like that, Ginny was far more of a friend to him than anything resembling a sister. He held back though, because he wasn't sure that was the right comparison anymore either. It wasn't like his friendship with Hermione after all...so what was the word to use for it? He was chewing on this so hard he hardly noticed the tempo of his headache increasing as his dad continued.

"Urgh, avoid this Harry," Sirius swiftly inserted. "Teammate she is, but you don't want to get in between her tiff with her friend. She'd think your a right pig of a captain."

A trickle of sweat started forming on the nap of Harry's neck despite the freezing temperatures he so vividly remembered. He could no longer focus on Ginny, Sirius, or much of anyone right now except the very real pain of his head screaming at him to pay attention around the splitting it was causing his vision.

James froze, the feeling erupting in the room all around them. As Harry had just said, this was not in any way funny, but with a glance at his friends he tried his hardest not to immediately assume a Death Eater was around. This didn't have to be the panic inducing fear for life he was already latching onto with far too much practice...

Lily's lip was already trembling, her face as white as the sleet in her mind during this depiction, she was fighting back the urge to shriek as loud as that wind. Even without Harry's ghastly face a mask of horror promising this should not be interpreted any other way, she knew, they all did, something was terribly wrong.

James startled to his feet without remembering to do so, his body trying to put him into action even as no spell truly came to mind. There was no answer for this, his eyes only staying locked on the words for explanation, even while the back of his mind was already offering up the horror of this happening to the rest of the kids, his Harry next any second.

"No! You don't separate from them!"

Harry hardly acknowledged this, couldn't even have said who'd scolded him, his mind purely absorbed on the one goal of finding help.

Before the guttural noise could even form, a snarl of anger or fear for Harry next running into yet another problem, James was still going in the same breath, though he really hadn't breathed since Katie began her 'flight.'

A spastic noise thumped somewhere in Sirius' throat, a good old laugh about who Hagrid worried about more with the order of those names, but it never even made a flicker in his mind, to focused

on every word Prongs was saying.

Lily was still shivering nonstop, her teeth clicking together as if that cold was permeating the air in here as well. This was what brought James back to the room, and he crossed it quickly to settle beside her, with her son on her other side. She tried to protest, but he ignored her as he kept going still on the same breath, even if it was coming out more strained every second for not giving himself a chance to breath in between this mayhem starting out of the blue.

Harry startled out of his seat as well, nearly sending Lily and Sirius to the floor in his wild grab to stop this. James hardly noticed, locked as he was to the words to ensure Harry's intent went through to the one who needed it.

The breath of release escaping them all finally forced air in again. They'd all wanted to shout that from the moment Leanne had said the words, afraid Harry's natural curiosity would send him off to do this, but it had been locked in place until he showed he'd be doing otherwise, the opposite in ensuring his friend wouldn't suffer the same fate.

"It's cursed," Remus said flatly, as his mind finally spun back into processing things again.

"And a powerful one at that," Sirius agreed as he rubbed ruefully at his jaw, that was the kind of thing he'd expect to find in his mothers jewelry box, not some poor kid at Hogwarts possessing.

"What the bloody hell was Katie doing with it?" Lily demanded, her voice not anywhere near normal volume no matter how hard she tried. "What was she doing with it?"

"That is a very good question," James agreed, only managing the flat tone because he was still getting his breath back. He took one more cautious look at Harry, the idea of his son going

through that nearly suffocating him all over again. It helped nothing Harry refused to take his seat, but began pacing the room, a deeply troubled look that he hoped had everything to do with his teammate being in these circumstances rather than remembering this happening to him next.

Sirius snarled, fighting back the impulse to spit in disgust at how often that store kept being brought up recently. He made a mental note to burn it to the ground, and sadly that wasn't even in his top ten of things he had to do first.

"There are more ways of bending people to your will then that curse, that one just tends to be the most powerful." Lily murmured to herself, the idea of it happening at all still causing her to want to scream any second. Why did this have to keep happening in Harry's life? She wished this was more boggling, but sadly in their time in school it wasn't unheard of for students to come across cursed objects, and cursing each other with powerful spells was a walking liability, and still her

son kept managing to find the most oblique ways of emphasizing that in his life.

James shivered so hard the book nearly fell from his grasp. He understood why Harry was doing it of course, so no one else could unwittingly come across it, so someone like Dumbledore could

investigate it. Reasoning obviously said Harry would be fine, so had Katie until it had been touched by skin and his son was clearly being careful of this. None of that fought off the

compulsion to slap that away from his child this second, to be the one to do this instead.

"You're very likely not wrong," Lily passively agreed as she watched his hurried steps pick up in tempo, weather in agitation for being wrong or excitement of being right she really couldn't tell. "It does tie up rather well, but at the same time, it doesn't at all explain the conversation you heard between Borgin and Draco." The bit about being seen carrying it down the street sticking out most in her mind, this was easily something that could have been hidden away. Hermione herself had seen it moments later when she'd stepped in after Malfoy.

"Like a bloke couldn't slip into the girls bathroom for a second," Sirius jeered, entirely sick of Harry's friends protesting something like this at every turn. "It's not as if it's got a ward on it to stop us!"

"An interesting query though, why the girls bathroom? If it was indeed Malfoy and not some isolated incident, why did it have to be a girl? Malfoy could have just as easily done this to any

male coming along," Remus muttered, wondering if they were missing some significance in light of Harry's train of thought.

"That's another thing," James said in clipped tones. "No matter what Katie's, or whoever cursed her, intentions, there's no way that thing would have gotten in the school past Filch."

"Maybe she wasn't trying to get it back to the school, but headed to somewhere else in Hogsmeade with it." Remus offered.

"No, Leanne specifically said someone inside Hogwarts," Harry parotid, still pacing this way and that as his mind clamored to show him something he was forced to keep away, the movement

wasn't helping at all.

"Someone inside Hogwarts who very likely wasn't actually inside the school at that time," Remus agreed. "Everyone in the castle was likely to be out that day," clearly thinking his theory still

stood.

Harry didn't acknowledge him, afraid anything he said would only make his own mind worse.

They really were all in such a highly agitated state that hardly made a blip on their thoughts. If they'd thought about it at all, they would have said McGonagall herself, they just cared to much

about Katie and whoever the target had been right now to think otherwise of who looked that thing over.

"I think you offended her," Sirius tried absently to put a smile in place, though nothing of this whole chapter had been funny at all.

"I can see your point though," Lily said fairly, even if the same thing wouldn't have crossed her mind. No matter how open Dumbledore seemed to Harry, her son was still one of the few students in that school who would see him that way, everyone else had even less direct contact with him and would have gone to their head of house with this.

All three Marauders looked very snappy at that, with the firm belief they held that no matter their personal disagreements they wouldn't be showing that infront of anyone else. This was just

insulting on Harry's friends part, far more than disagreeing with him in general when they wouldn't even play along with his idea.

"He didn't accuse me?" Sirius went wide-eyed and innocent again.

Harry glanced up at him and gave an obligatory laugh, but only faked that this put him at ease as he sank down in the nearest seat, next to Remus. He was still rubbing hard at his temples, his eyes clenched shut and for all the world wishing he could sever his head to be rid of this constant pain.

"Both you boys really aren't keeping up very well with this," Lily shook her head at them.

"It had been months since that happened, not this morning," Harry mumbled in slight defense he hadn't recalled the exact words, even as much as he'd obsessed over them.

"Congratulations Ron, now you're mimicking the book inside the book," Sirius pressed out an even more forced chuckle, growing heavily agitated this was getting harder every time.

"How would she know?" Lily muttered in confusion, that seemed more like something Snape would be aware of. The point didn't particularly matter she supposed, as she agreed with James'

next words.

"Ra-drat," James sighed, there went his prime suspect.

"I wouldn't rule him out just yet though," Sirius still had a calculating look in place, still prepared to defend Harry's idea. "Crabbe or Goyle could have done this for him, if he is the one behind this." He really found it hard to believe Malfoy was very possibly up to something this year and then this happened without being connected.

Harry looked up sharply at him, but even this answer still felt a step off. Still, it did ease his pain somewhat, as always, to hear the conversation around him circulating, the true answer just beyond his reach but at least not festering as his dad continued.

"I didn't realize Malfoy's boasting earlier literally meant he wasn't going to be doing his work this year," Remus rolled his eyes at this inconsequential bit of information.

"Surprised he hasn't been paying someone to do it for him like all the other years," Sirius groused.

Harry's eyes lit up briefly, he was so sure that was the right answer and the confidence nearly spurred him into words, but was cut off by Remus shaking his head while James had been listening the other two. "No, to all three. I'm still leaning towards it being a woman the intended target now. Why the girls bathroom, that part just makes no sense."

It had all happened so fast he'd lost his confidence with the exact same thought, back to muttering in squalor of the uselessness of his mind.

"I might disagree," Lily hedged, twisting a strand of hair around her finger as she thought. "It really depends on the kind of magic placed upon her to force her doing this. If she'd been given the very explicit command to give this to you in your shared common room, she may not have even registered you behind her at all." Her focus came back though, and she shook her head

sharply to dispel away that line of thinking. "Point is, though sound logic Hermione's using, we can't rule out anyone."

Harry could at least nod his agreement to that, though his eyes kept drifting out of focus like he'd struck gold and let it slip through his fingers all at once and for the life of him couldn't understand why.

"Ooh, now we know we've got her in a temper," James huffed with a roll of his eyes, but did tell Harry, "you're being rather single minded with this though. You're causing just as much trouble not hearing others ideas and insisting on your own as they are ignoring yours."

"But you know I'm right!" Harry spluttered.

"Not really," he sighed. "I agree it's a very, very good chance, but it also never hurts to hear other ideas while you're at it. Could even somehow round back to helping your own on a completely

different theory."

Harry crossed his arms and muttered defiantly, causing Remus to actually smirk in genuine amusement again. Harry sounded so like both James and Sirius with the grumbles he was using.

"That's as much as you can ask for at this point," Sirius sighed. "Letting you talk yourself out."

"Gee, thanks," Harry snipped.

"Give it a few hours," Lily sighed, knowing this wasn't the kind of thing to stay secret in the castle.

"At least until breakfast," James agreed.

Remus snorted in surprise.

"I'll call that a small miracle she managed that," Sirius agreed, finally managing an easy laugh along with Remus for that random exchange.

"Glory, why is it always you," James groaned as he hastily snapped his chapter shut before anything else could happen.

Harry couldn't help but agree. His stance on Malfoy aside, why had it been him coming across this at all!

HPHPHPHP

Actually, despite the characters not, I do get Harry's little tizzy over Mundungus in this chapter. I'd have been just as outraged, as it's the principle of the matter Sirius was being stolen from. I hope I made it clear though that they just don't because they can't associate that stuff with Sirius, whereas

that's really all Harry has learned to attach to his godfather, things. He barely has any memories with him. This is getting depressing, but I still hope you enjoyed on some level.


	13. THE SECRET RIDDLE

Sirius detested the now familiar feeling of dread as he accepted the book from Prongs, how uneasy everyone sat on the edge of their seat, how common place it was to be starting yet another

chapter with tension. It was for a random student, and that somehow made it even worse for their own past school years still somehow overlapping into Harry's life now, when all they'd ever

wanted for him was a careless seven years of school free of of everything but fun. Still, he began with a forced cheerful tone of voice, no matter how dower the situation started.

"Depends on how often you bring this up on how offended you should be," Sirius said cheekily. "Once a day is a bit much pup, you only need to repeat yourself when it's relevant."

"Hark, look who's talking!" Remus looked at him, dumbfounded he could say anything so opposite to the words he constantly spewed, or more accurately, the joke he so often threw

around.

"Moony, whatever do you mean?" Sirius batted his eyes innocently, still fooling no one.

Remus scoffed at once, the desire still very present to laugh at anyone who thought Dumbledore would be late.

Lily sighed softly for him. He really was getting on in age, and was now living through the same war a second time. It would be taxing on any man.

"I'm beginning to worry that's going to be a permanent injury," James muttered in genuine concern.

"Are we still going through memories?" Sirius asked without much interest. "What else from his past do we really need to know?" He still wasn't entirely sure what had been relevant about the

first one.

"Maybe he met someone in that orphanage he grew up in, who could be important," Lily offered.

"I can't see it," James disagreed. "If he hates Muggles, I'm betting that's where it all would have started."

"Not to mention, it's impossible to imagine Voldemort with anything resembling a friend, he just has lackeys," Remus sniffed.

"And he couldn't have taken it upon himself? For research purposes of course," James muttered bitterly. He really couldn't even think why Snape had bothered, the slime-ball had never done

anything that didn't benefit him in some way.

Lily gave him a scathing look for that one though, she wished they'd show a bit more gratitude like they would any other human being doing this. She understood what had happend to Sirius

and Harry last year had only worsened matters, but couldn't they at least keep it civil?

"Oh how I've missed that," Sirius rolled his eyes heavily at that fart being brought up again.

"That is, true," Remus grudgingly agreed, though why Dumbledore had to make that sound like a good thing he couldn't fathom. After all, it was his specialty with the Dark Arts that had put him in with the Death Eaters in the first place, so clearly his superior knowledge hadn't been gained in any good light like the Order had.

"I should hope so, as much as he's been alluding to it from the start," James huffed, very sick of having so many answers dangled over his head.

"As if there's anything left." Sirius rolled his eyes, knowing full well any good thief would have already made off with anything of remote value.

Harry felt an icy chill, as if a dementor had just breathed down his neck. He was just so sure, for a solid moment he was confident, but the vicious stab from within stopped him a hair's breadth before he could lock in on the idea anymore than an errant thought. He went cross-eyed, let out a vicious breath of pain, but as always was forced to wait, no matter how impatiently, for it all to make sense.

"Yeah, I can agree with that," Sirius said with all the cheer he could. No one had missed Harry's little problem over there, but they were leaving him to it as clearly he was controlling whatever was troubling his mind.

"That's, practically thievery!" Lily yelped in a mixture of shock and disgust.

"That's the Burke store we know and loath," James agreed, his face drawn for this poor woman who had probably never even been outside her house before all this. That ten Galleons was likely

the most gold she ever saw in her life, and she likely put it all to her infant. This all managed to grow more depressing the more he thought about it, that Merope may have actually made a good

mother if she'd survived.

"Not necessarily," Remus frowned in confusion of Harry. "The Weasley's situation should be enough for you to realize magic doesn't make us all at ease with life."

Harry wanted to persist his point, that the Weasleys struggled for money because of spellbooks and other things they had no choice but to buy, but food and other things should come along with much more ease? Then he really realized whom he was speaking with, and shut his trap. He'd never asked Remus for specifics of his life outside of here, and he didn't feel it his place to. You

didn't need to, to grasp how hard life had been on him. Merope, an unpracticed witch with no one else to help, would have it even worse.

James shook his head slowly as he heard that, he couldn't even imagine it. With the way Meropes life had gone though, he could almost see why she'd think that. Still, he wasn't convinced

Dumbledore had the mark on this one, he could picture any number of things going on with her situation.

"She may not have even been able to, or known how," Lily said quietly as she brushed at her hair. "Birthing a child can be quite the complicated thing, if there aren't doctors around any number of problems could arise. She may have even just been sick, not taking care of herself properly, there's really no telling what magic could have done for her even if she had been around it."

Lily's breath caught hard in her throat, she felt smothered at the very mention of this. Her own final words echoed through her mind, that she was willing to die for her child, leaving him without his parents as she'd know full well. She had to force herself to stop there, lest the pain of it all push into the here and now, reminding herself that whatever this woman's situation, no matter how much it was like her own, had already happened. Her's hadn't. Even if she had to choose the same in the end, it would still be her choice.

"Pity for the mother doesn't quite spew out into the spawn," Sirius huffed.

"Of course I did!" Harry's mother's voice came out a sharp snap, and he looked startled, even wounded for it. She'd kept herself very well put together, he'd had no idea what she'd been thinking of moments ago. "I could have, have-" she couldn't even say the despicable words, of letting Voldemort take him from her. "But I didn't, and I never would. There's always a choice Harry."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, the only thing he could offer for his question he hadn't really thought through. The echo of the dementors again played through his mind. Voldemort had told her to step aside, and she'd refused, hence his very life he breathed now.

Lily's face only burned that much more, that Dumbledore had to be the one to remind him of that. The loss of the life Harry had been deprived of never got easier to hear, that his headmaster would be the one to say that to him.

Sirius snorted loudly, just to help ease some of the tension back out of the room for someone else showing such a high opinion of themselves. He was still ignored.

"I'm sure he was very hard to spot, you obviously needed this guidance," James did get a chuckle out of that at least, wrapping one arm tighter still around his wife who still looked distant.

Sirius full out laughed for that, while Harry didn't look remotely abashed.

"Who only knocks once?" Remus muttered at that random detail.

The boys had no more been expecting Sirius to shout that at the top of his lungs, but Lily still managed to startle hardest of all, right out of her revier.

"Was that necessary?" She demanded of him.

"Yes," he agreed without looking over, but a satisfied smirk none-the-less in place he had her full, undivided attention again.

"Did, chickens attack them?" James asked slowly, with genuine concern for wherever this place was.

"No, it's a Muggle disease, makes your skin get red spots all over that itch." Lily shrugged, recalling her fascination as a youngster when her whole class had them for a time except her, even Petunia had gotten them.

"What's that have to do with chickens? Do Muggles sometimes not cook chicken properly and that makes them sick?" He prodded further, pleased more than anything she was back to chatting

with them again without that horror of her future in her eyes, or some secret she wasn't sharing with them in her smile.

"It's more like, it sort of looks like a chickens pecked you all over," she tried to visualize it for him, but when James just looked more baffled than ever she burst into giggles and waved Sirius on.

"That's about as likely with this man around," Sirius agreed.

"I still have those moments," James agreed, deciding for now to stop lingering on the idea of a chicken chasing a bundle of kids around.

"I'm surprised he didn't lie about that," Harry said, wondering if all normal exchanges went like this, rather than Hagrid bursting a door down for him.

"He's no reason to," Remus reminded, "even if she went and looked it up, Dumbledore would produce some paperwork for her."

Harry gaped at that one, looking wildly around for some kind of explanation, while they all laughed at his expression. It was still nice to see him confounded by magic.

"I didn't say it was useful paperwork," Remus said around more laughter, as if that was all the explanation needed.

Harry rolled his eyes but let it go, deciding it was enough explanation for now. Obviously he still had more to learn in his next year of school.

"Oh good, I always wanted to know his birthday," Sirius said dryly.

"We're dishing out plenty of socks this holiday, I'm sure we can ship along a pair for him," James rolled his eyes.

"Poisonous socks," Remus muttered, causing Harry to snort in surprise and James and Sirius to exchange a heavily amused smirk. Harry clearly hadn't heard all of Remus' mutters, but he would

be now.

That really was just, sad. Sirius could have connected many things to the moment of birthing Voldemort into their world, but honestly the start to it all was so depressing! The megalomaniac

would be carrying that on to this day and never let them forget it, it seemed.

"Lovely," Lily said tartly.

James mouth still twisted with a nasty sneer for that. No child should be named for such a creature as that Guant...though he supposed if there was one exception it was Voldemort.

"Not far off honestly," Remus huffed.

"Oh joy, so he really was a psychopath even as a kid," James muttered in disgust. Why were they listening to this again? It was only more of a reminder where Harry could have ended up, where he almost had and should have been rather than with those Dursleys who cared nothing for him. At least this Mrs. Cole had a clear concern for the kids in her care.

Lily choked in shock while all of the boys grimaced uncomfortably. A murderer indeed, even as a child, for something like an animal was never a good start to life.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the tight pull on his mind sharp once again for something he was sure he should have been connecting with, but he just ran his hand through his hair in agitation and wished his mind to shut up with its uselessness.

"Sounds better off than you were," Lily muttered so quietly she didn't even seem to realize she'd said it, but James heard, tightening his arm all the more around her as he realized they'd been thinking the same thing.

"I'm going to start calling him that," Sirius said at once with conviction.

James got a good chuckle out of that.

"Urgh, that's almost as bad as his squashed snake face he has now," Sirius said in disgust for Dumbledore trying to humanize this constant Bludger on their life. The full force of his words

wouldn't hold though, he could deny no more than anyone this was still just a kid, even one that had already grown up to be what they knew. He wanted to hate him on principle, but while it was

there, it was not the only thing he could focus on.

"I'm sure he needs it," James huffed.

"What an impertinent child," Lily huffed, thinking he could speak to any adult that way.

"I'd like to lock you in one surely, it's to bad Dumbledore didn't have the forethought," Remus sniffed.

"I know Dumbledore's calm about everything," Sirius said with only mild sarcasm, "but now I'm wondering just how many people think they're being shipped off to a nut house. Personally I

wouldn't have minded so much, couldn't be worse than the one I grew up in."

"More like try to force him out," Lily said bitterly.

"That basilisk couldn't have gotten him rather than Myrtle," James agreed.

"Eh," Sirius waved his hand vaguely, eyeing his best friend obviously. "A lot of them do seem to wind up there."

"You're the poster child," James agreed without looking over.

"He was, looking at, each of his, eyes?" Remus muttered in confusion.

"I don't get it, did Dumbledore have a lazy eye during this conversation..." James trailed off in confusion.

"We always knew he was mad," Sirius shrugged without concern.

This really hadn't been very funny to begin with, and the feeling just continued to grow worse with each passing moment this little Tom spoke.

"Bloody hell, he's a menace," Sirius noted like he was eyeing a coming storm.

"What, made him like that," Remus was grasping for words he wasn't even sure there was an answer for. "I'd have thought we'd seen evidence by now the kids picked on him because he was

magic, that's why he'd hate them, but from everything we've heard it's the complete opposite. He's using magic against them because, he likes it!"

"I, I really must wonder if it wasn't that love potion." Lily said hoarsely. "I keep thinking, over and over, I've never heard of a child being conceived under the influence of one. Maybe it had, some effect on the child then."

"Oh great, so not only did she refuse to even look for an option to stay alive for the child she forced into this world, it's all her fault it was this way from the start!" Sirius was getting angrier at Merope by the second, looking for something to vent on that wasn't a kid. It still wasn't easy, he couldn't even work himself into a proper temper because the image kept lingering of some girl Lily's age, their age, without anyone to care for or turn to.

"Sirius." He didn't need the soft rebuke James gave, but it still helped cool him, preventing anything else that could have come next.

"I still don't see a solution in all this," Remus sighed. "Is there a cure? If there was and he'd actually feel something resembling human emotions again, would it even matter, it certainly wouldn't really make up for all the crimes he's committed."

"You'd think Dumbledore would have recognized all this himself before inviting him to learn more magic to do more harm," James agreed.

"Maybe he thought he could, I don't know, fix him, help him, certainly not make him a monster." Sirius finished, while Harry felt Remus flinch slightly beside him. He glanced over in surprise, but didn't understand that look he quickly hid from his face before the other two could see it.

Sirius certainly hadn't anymore to say on this though, what had happened, happened, and he honestly doubted he'd see anything in Dumbledore's own memory the man wouldn't have already spotted, so when no one else offered anything he kept going restlessly for this to be over. Not that anything else going on in Harry's life was much more fun to be getting to.

"Most of our kind do," Lily agreed softly. Agreed with Voldemort of all people! She never forgot though, those years before that weird kid Snape on the block had finally tracked her down and

told her what she was. How, special, she'd been, unable to help but use Voldemort's own choice of word in understanding.

"Urgh," Sirius' nose crinkled in disgust for not only that mockery of politeness he'd so used as well. He hated any idea he'd done anything remotely similar to this cretin.

"No," Lily corrected. "Much like Hagrid setting that grate aflame for you, a little magic is always allowed in the beginning, to ah, prove a point I should say."

"Oh, Dumbledore wouldn't really," James scoffed at once.

"Still, certainly not a kind trick on the kid," Sirius began, before his words caught up with him and he finished venomously, "other than this one."

A soft snort of laughter echoed around, before Remus spoke up what they were all wondering, "what did Dumbledore do?"

Sirius shushed him, they were now all listening more intently than ever. Here, something could finally shown to be the purpose of all this, something Voldemort actually cared for?

Harry couldn't help half shouting in his excitement, "what kind of magic is that? How did Dumbledore even know to use that spell, to know that wasn't his?"

It was rather odd to be sure, seeing Harry getting so worked up over magic as if he were eleven himself again, but James still answered, "certainly there's a few spells one could do to check

ownership of a few objects. After all Mrs. Cole and Riddle himself said, I'm not terribly surprised he's stolen things from kids as well."

Harry waved Sirius on impatiently now, knowing something massive was coming.

The others merely looked more baffled than ever why Voldemort had cared about such things, when it had been clear nobody of significance in his life had left him any of that. Souvenirs,

perhaps, from his time in that orphanage? Though they'd been given no inkling so far he valued anyone, certainly not close enough to be given a gift.

Harry however looked ecstatic, his eyes lighting with some dim understanding he couldn't yet fully grasp, but did not need any extra sense telling him to pay attention now, he was riveted.

"Of course not, that's an actual human emotion," James muttered in disgust, honestly believing Lily's theory more every line. Did he have any emotion in him? Obviously he did, as Harry had been all to painfully aware of last year, but then what was this...this lack of humanity pouring from such a young soul? There was just no way this was natural, as if he'd ever needed that confirmed considering what Voldemort was now.

"Inadvertently I'm sure," Sirius mock quoted.

"Starting with all the good threats, then," Harry huffed.

"Not that it did him any good," Remus agreed with heavy sarcasm, not missing the irony Harry had been under threat of both, where as likely the perfect Tom Riddle they'd heard of in the past

never had.

Lily tisked quietly, but considering the many unspeakable things he had, or in this case would do, it really was a passing insult to her.

Lily couldn't help the clear disapproval that time though, cutting herself off with a heavier scoff still. "He's just a boy, surely he needs supervision."

"Maybe it would have stopped him growing an early interest in places like Knockturn Alley," Harry agreed, vividly remembering their protest of his short time alone there at eleven.

"I think that's already been set in stone," Sirius disagreed with an eye roll. "Besides, the kid turned down the help, I certainly wouldn't stop him not minding himself and getting run over."

Lily turned her scowl on him but couldn't really snap for that. She still couldn't make it sit right in her head like he so clearly could, this was still just a kid.

All five of them frowned, another wash of sympathy for the soul that was Tom Riddle. They didn't know what to call that moment. Innocence, for his lack of knowledge that even magic could

never really stop that? Callousness on his mother's behalf? It was certainly a true foreshadowing of his future nature.

"I guess I should feel flattered it's not just Hagrid who leaves out the detail about that barrier," Harry muttered for himself.

"Why would he think that would impress him?" Remus asked with a lingering frown for the boys logic. "He's already mentioned he could control animals at will, and Dumbledore hadn't really

reacted to that. Why would speaking to a particular species be of anymore significance?"

"You're guess is as good as ours," Sirius reminded.

"I'm sure a wide range of reactions exist out there," Lily agreed absently. She'd thought Snape a loon until she'd been convinced, Harry had taken some convincing, and Riddle had believed it

instantly. It sort of made her want to do a study on all the varied reactions a Muggleborn could have, if it wasn't so thoroughly depressing her son had found himself in that category.

"I'd, be genuinely impressed if he did." Remus muttered.

"I'm sure if he had, he wouldn't have let his life go on as long as he had," James said beligerently.

Lily wasn't so sure, thinking about what had been said earlier and Dumbledore's willingness to try and help others. What was the point of no return for him then? Was there one?

"You already knew that?" James frowned at Harry in confusion why he'd pointed this out.

"Suppose up until that point I would have thought he wouldn't realize it until later in life," Harry shrugged.

"I'd hope so," they all muttered agreement to that.

"I'll be sure to give him a more original name," Sirius said deadpan.

"Why not even go from another anagram of his own," James answered with a smirk Lily was already trying to read around, though not before he started with, "I've noticed a certain few letters

spell out the word-"

She didn't care enough to let him finish.

Putting this into the perspective of his adult self was helping them really, it certainly pushed off their confusion at that notion and put disgust right back in place discussing this vile plague on humanity in their life.

"I, can see what he's going for," Remus said slowly, his eyes suddenly widening at the possibility. They'd been half right in their guess, but gotten the motive wrong then.

"I'm still not sure what the point of those are," Sirius had his head cocked to the side curiously. "So he does value objects then, nicked something from people he's murdered then. Would stealing his closet full of knick-knacks of the dead put him off enough for us to kill him then?"

James laughed at the absurd way Sirius managed to phrase that, but Harry was sitting right on the edge of his seat now, his face trained on the book while his godfathers words spiraled sickeningly in his head, forbidden to look upon, longing to know.

"Well Dumbledore certainly thinks so," Lily sighed, wishing the man would just spit it out no matter the hour, this felt more important than a bedtime. She didn't like the bead of sweat her son didn't even seem aware of tracing down his taught face.

Harry swallowed loudly, but no one needed that to feel the tension all along the room. What else had that ring been then? Lily read the final line carefully,

but when it yielded no good results she turned to the others for some kind of explanation that was certainly evading her.


End file.
